Debate on The Pensions Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1954 · col. 14130

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

Gregor Brenn (Minister of Finance): I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. The Ministry of Finance has costed the Bill and the sum is in the estimates. The duty falls where the printed Bill says it falls. The Bill provides as follows. Every town above 1000 inhabitants must appoint an officer under this Act. I move.

Lukas Hallin (Kesselhöh; The Assembly Union): 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. Kesselhöh 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 Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. The clause is short and I shall not read it. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not.

Bernd Brenn (Westgau; The Continuity Party): Speaker, Westgau 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 Continuity Party supports every measure that keeps the record whole and opposes every measure that does not. This one keeps it whole. The Bill says so in terms: Every town above 1000 inhabitants must appoint an officer under this Act. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Shame.]

Karl Hallin (Westgau; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, My constituents in Westgau wrote to me about the Bill, all 7 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The members for the reed districts will ask, as they always ask, what the Bill means for the harvest and the causeways. The schedule is plain enough. Comes into force on 1 January 1955. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Shame.]

Hedwig Ostrand (The Sudmark; The Assembly Union): 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. The Union stands where it has always stood: for the towns, for the trade, and against any clause that begins with the word 'licence'. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated. [The Line!]

Lukas Posmann (Kesselhöh; The Workers' Front): Speaker, Kesselhöh has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. There is not a word in the Bill about wages. There never is. I put the word in now, so that it is in the record. I read the clause. Comes into force on 1 January 1955. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated. [Interruption.]

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

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