Debate on The Public Order (Amendment) Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1953 · col. 14009

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

Arno Rusk (Minister of the Interior): I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. The town councils have asked for the Bill by their clerks. The Ministry has drafted it as the councils asked, and shortened it. The House will note that the Bill is an amending Bill; the principal Act, The Public Order Act, is not otherwise touched. I move.

Ernst Dauren (Norrfeld; The Reed Party): Speaker, 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 people of Norrfeld will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. 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 Bill says so in terms: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 54 marka or 9 months. My party will divide the House on the Bill.

Ansel Marrow (The Osmoor; The Continuity Party): 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. 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. Drains, roads and lamps. The House will pass the Bill because the alternative is drains, roads and no lamps. I read the clause. Comes into force on 1 January 1954. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it. [The Line!]

Leon Facher (Kesselhöh; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, 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 people of Kesselhöh will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. Drains, roads and lamps. The House will pass the Bill because the alternative is drains, roads and no lamps. The Bill says so in terms: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 54 marka or 9 months. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Interruption.]

Leon Hallin (Westgau; The Workers' Front): Speaker, The Front supports the Bill where it helps the families of the Line and opposes it where it charges them. The towns asked for it. The towns will pay for it. That is the usual arrangement and I do not quarrel with it. In Westgau, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it. [Hear, hear.]

The Minister, in reply, said that the points raised were answered in the printed Bill and that the Ministry would consider the rest.

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

The House adjourned at the rising of the court.