Debate on The Water Supply Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1953 · col. 14062

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

Arno Rusk (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. The Bill provides as follows. Every town above 1000 inhabitants must appoint an officer under this Act. I commend the Bill to the House.

Ansel Marrow (The Osmoor; The Continuity Party): Mr. Speaker, 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. 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 members for The Osmoor have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. I shall vote against the Bill. [Shame.]

Leon Facher (Kesselhöh; The Assembly Union): Speaker, I ask the House to consider the tradesman who will have to comply with this. He has not been consulted; he has been notified. In Kesselhöh, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. Drains, roads and lamps. The House will pass the Bill because the alternative is drains, roads and no lamps. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Shame.]

Leon Hallin (Westgau; The Workers' Front): Speaker, The Workers' Front has looked for the working man in this Bill and found him in the schedule, paying. My constituents in Westgau wrote to me about the Bill, all 4 of them, and they were against it until they read it. 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: Every town above 1000 inhabitants must appoint an officer under this Act. I shall vote against the Bill. [Hear, hear.]

Erna Wendl (Kesselhöh; 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 Kesselhöh wrote to me about the Bill, all 3 of them, and they were against it until they read it. Drains, roads and lamps. The House will pass the Bill because the alternative is drains, roads and no lamps. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it. [Interruption.]

Leon Sermeick (The Capital District; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, I sit for The Capital District. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. The land pays for everything in the end. The Reed Party will vote as the land would vote if it could. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. 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 shall vote against the Bill.

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

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 House proceeded to other business.