Debate on The Diary Licences Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1953 · col. 14046

The Speaker: The Order of the Day is the third reading of the Bill. The Minister has the floor.

Ludwig Rusk (Minister of Chronology): I beg to move the third reading of the Bill, and I shall be brief. The Ministry of Chronology has examined the Bill and finds it in order. The calendar is not touched; the licence is. In terms: Administered by the Ministry of Chronology. Offences under this Act are tried before the Court of Chronological Offences. I move.

Berta Brenn (Norrfeld; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, 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 Bill concerns dates, and the House does not argue about dates. It passes Bills about them. In Norrfeld, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. I oppose the third reading. [Hear, hear.]

Willem Norrholt (The Ostrand; The Assembly Union): 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. My constituents in The Ostrand wrote to me about the Bill, all 7 of them, and they were against it until they read it. I have no observation on the reckoning of years, which is the Ministry's business and not mine. The Bill says so in terms: Administered by the Ministry of Chronology. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated.

Tobias Kolm (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 Bill concerns dates, and the House does not argue about dates. It passes Bills about them. The Bill says so in terms: Administered by the Ministry of Chronology. I oppose the third reading. [Shame.]

Viktor Marrow (The Capital District; The Assembly Union): Speaker, In The Capital District, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. 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. I have no observation on the reckoning of years, which is the Ministry's business and not mine. I shall vote against the Bill. [Interruption.]

Ernst Brenn (Kesselhöh; The Assembly Union): Speaker, The Union has no quarrel with the purpose of the Bill; its quarrel is with the fee, and with the officer who will collect it. The people of Kesselhöh will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. The Bill concerns dates, and the House does not argue about dates. It passes Bills about them. The clause is short and I shall not read it. We shall divide the House. [Interruption.]

Erna Wendl (Kesselhöh; The Continuity Party): Mr. Speaker, I rise only to say what the House already knows: there is nothing irregular in the Bill, nothing irregular in the calendar, and nothing irregular in the record. The Ministry of Chronology has examined it; the Clerk has entered it; the House may proceed. [Interruption.]

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

The question being put, a division was called for, and the members went to the lobbies.

The Speaker: The Ayes have it. The Bill is passed and will go to the Grand Chancellor for assent.

The remaining Orders of the Day were deferred and the House rose.