Debate on The Road Traffic Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1918 · col. 10678

The Speaker: The question before the House is that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. I call the Minister.

Bruno Fenn (Minister of the Interior): I beg to move the third reading of the Bill, and I shall be brief. The Bill is a Bill about drains, roads and lamps, and I shall not dress it up. The towns need it. In terms: Licences are issued by the Ministry of the Interior for a fee of 44 marka. Comes into force on 1 January 1919. I ask the House to pass it.

Egon Holt (Westgau; The Workers' Front): Mr. Speaker, The mills of Kessel will feel this Bill before the Ministry does. I say so now so that nobody may say afterwards that they were not told. The people of Westgau will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. The towns asked for it. The towns will pay for it. That is the usual arrangement and I do not quarrel with it. The Bill says so in terms: Licences are issued by the Ministry of the Interior for a fee of 44 marka. My party will divide the House on the Bill. [Laughter.]

Piet Krispaut (Kesselhöh; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, My constituents in Kesselhöh wrote to me about the Bill, all 6 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'. The schedule is plain enough. Comes into force on 1 January 1919. An officer under the Act: the phrase appears in every Bill from the Interior and means a man with a book and a bicycle. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated. [Shame.]

Gustav Diellhardt (The Osmoor; The Workers' Front): Mr. Speaker, The members for The Osmoor have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. The Workers' Front has looked for the working man in this Bill and found him in the schedule, paying. The clause is short and I shall not read it. The towns asked for it. The towns will pay for it. That is the usual arrangement and I do not quarrel with it. I shall vote against the Bill. [Interruption.]

Anton Testen (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. An officer under the Act: the phrase appears in every Bill from the Interior and means a man with a book and a bicycle. The people of The Capital District will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Shame.]

Arno Brenn (Kesselhöh; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister one thing: does the Bill send an officer out to the farms, and if it does, who feeds him? In Kesselhöh, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. An officer under the Act: the phrase appears in every Bill from the Interior and means a man with a book and a bicycle. I read the clause. Comes into force on 1 January 1919. My party will divide the House on the Bill. [Laughter.]

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

The Speaker put the question. The Ayes were challenged and the House divided.

The Speaker declared the Ayes to have it and the Bill was passed.

The House then proceeded to the next Order of the Day.