Debate on The Hochstadt Digital Records Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1918 · col. 10650

The Speaker: The House will come to order. The Bill stands for its third reading. The Minister.

Bruno Rusk (Minister of Finance): I beg to move the third reading of the Bill, and I shall be brief. The Bill raises what it says it raises and spends it where the schedule says. I have the figures and will lay them on the table. I read the material clause to the House. Licences are issued by the Ministry of the Interior for a fee of 44 marka. I move.

Rainer Ketmel (The Sudmark; The Continuity Party): Sir, I have read the Bill for what it does to the record, which is the only reading that matters, and it does nothing to the record. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. My constituents in The Sudmark wrote to me about the Bill, all 6 of them, and they were against it until they read it. I shall vote against the Bill. [Laughter.]

Rudolf Weissha (The Sudmark; The Assembly Union): Sir, My constituents in The Sudmark wrote to me about the Bill, all 4 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The Union stands where it has always stood: for the towns, for the trade, and against any clause that begins with the word 'licence'. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. I oppose the third reading. [Shame.]

Ansel Ostrand (The Osmoor; The Reed Party): Sir, In The Osmoor, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. The Reed Party has read the Bill with the harvest in mind. The harvest is late this year and the causeways are under water in two districts. The material provision is this: Licences are issued by the Ministry of the Interior for a fee of 44 marka. I ask the House to note it. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. I shall vote against the Bill. [Interruption.]

Kurt Kessler (Kesselhöh; The Continuity Party): Sir, I sit for Kesselhöh. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. Order and record. That is the whole of my party's programme and I do not apologise for its shortness. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. My party will divide the House on the Bill. [Hear, hear.]

Hugo Mengen (The Ostrand; The Continuity Party): Sir, Nothing in the Bill disturbs the record. The Continuity Party asks only that the register be kept as it has always been kept. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. The Ostrand has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. We shall divide the House. [Laughter.]

The Minister thanked the House for a short debate and asked for a short division.

The Speaker: The question is that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. As many as are of that opinion say Aye. [Ayes.] Of the contrary, No. [Noes.] A division was claimed.

The tellers reported the numbers to the Chair. The Speaker declared the Bill passed.

The House proceeded to other business.