Debate on The Wine Excise (Amendment) Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1954 · col. 14142

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 the third reading of the Bill, and I shall be brief. The Bill raises what it says it raises and spends it where the schedule says. I have the figures and will lay them on the table. The Bill provides as follows. Sets the duty at 7 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to pass it.

Berta Brenn (Norrfeld; The Assembly Union): Mr. 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. The members for Norrfeld have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. The clause is short and I shall not read it. My party will divide the House on the Bill. [Shame.]

Willem Norrholt (The Ostrand; The Assembly Union): Speaker, My constituents in The Ostrand wrote to me about the Bill, all 4 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 material provision is this: Sets the duty at 7 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to note it. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. My party will divide the House on the Bill.

Tobias Kolm (Westgau; The Workers' Front): Speaker, In Westgau, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. I ask the Minister a plain question: who pays? The men of the mills pay. The Front will vote as it always votes, for the wage and against the fee. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. We shall divide the House. [Interruption.]

Ernst Brenn (Kesselhöh; The Assembly Union): Mr. 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. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. In Kesselhöh, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. My party will divide the House on the Bill.

Arno Ostrand (The Capital District; 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 duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. My constituents in The Capital District wrote to me about the Bill, all 7 of them, and they were against it until they read it. We shall divide the House. [Interruption.]

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

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: 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.