Debate on The Requisition Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1918 · col. 10655

The Speaker: The Bill concerns the Line. The House will proceed in the customary manner, and I shall take no point of order that does not concern the Line.

Konrad Rusk (Minister of War): I move the third reading. The Bill concerns the men on the planking and the timber under their feet. I ask the House to pass it as it has passed every measure of the kind. The Bill provides as follows. Charged to the Annual War Appropriation. I move.

Kurt Kessler (Kesselhöh; The Continuity Party): Sir, The Continuity Party supports every measure that keeps the record whole and opposes every measure that does not. This one keeps it whole. The men on the planking will not read this debate. They will feel the Bill, or not feel it, and that is the only test. The people of Kesselhöh will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. My party will vote for the Bill.

Hugo Mengen (The Ostrand; The Continuity Party): Mr. Speaker, The Bill is in order. The Clerk has entered it. The Ministry of Chronology has seen it. I do not see what more the House requires. My constituents in The Ostrand wrote to me about the Bill, all 5 of them, and they were against it until they read it. On a Line measure I say what every member says: the Line holds, and the House holds with it. The schedule is plain enough. Passed unanimously, as is customary for measures concerning the Line. I support the Bill. [Hear, hear.]

Friedl Lolich (The Sudmark; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, In The Sudmark, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. I speak for the farms. A Bill that does not touch the farms is a Bill I can vote for with an easy mind; a Bill that does had better say so. I read the clause. Passed unanimously, as is customary for measures concerning the Line. The Line is held. What the Line needs the House provides. I have nothing to add and I shall not detain the House. I support the third reading.

Ludwig Marsch (Westgau; The Assembly Union): Sir, I sit for Westgau. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. Every Bill of this kind adds a form, a fee and a clerk. The Assembly Union would like, once in a session, to pass a Bill that removes one. The clause is short and I shall not read it. The men on the planking will not read this debate. They will feel the Bill, or not feel it, and that is the only test. The Bill should pass and it will. [The Line!]

Ivo Reinholt (The Osmoor; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, The Osmoor has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. The liberty of the subject is a large phrase for a small Bill, but I use it, because the Bill is small and the liberty is not. The Bill says so in terms: Charged to the Annual War Appropriation. On a Line measure I say what every member says: the Line holds, and the House holds with it. My party will vote for the Bill. [Hear, hear.]

Aurel Kaltz (The Capital District; The Assembly Union): Sir, I ask the House to consider the tradesman who will have to comply with this. He has not been consulted; he has been notified. My constituents in The Capital District wrote to me about the Bill, all 7 of them, and they were against it until they read it. On a Line measure I say what every member says: the Line holds, and the House holds with it. The clause is short and I shall not read it. I support the Bill. [Interruption.]

The Minister replied briefly. The fee was as printed; the officer was as printed; the House had the Bill and could read it.

The Speaker: The question is that the Bill do pass. The House does not divide on a Line measure. The members rose in their places. The Bill was passed.

The House adjourned when the court resumed after the midday adjournment.