Debate on The Prisons Regulation Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1958 · col. 14413

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

Otto Brenn (Minister of Justice): I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. The Bill tidies a corner of the code that the courts have complained of for a generation. The printed Bill says it better than I can: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 112 marka or 11 months. I ask the House to pass it.

Karl Hallin (Westgau; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, The members for the reed districts will ask, as they always ask, what the Bill means for the harvest and the causeways. In Westgau, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. The courts have asked for the Bill and the courts should have it. The Bill says so in terms: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 112 marka or 11 months. We shall divide the House. [Hear, hear.]

Hedwig Ostrand (The Sudmark; 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. I sit for The Sudmark. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. I have no quarrel with the Bill except that it comes twenty years late. The clause is short and I shall not read it. I oppose the third reading. [Shame.]

Lukas Posmann (Kesselhöh; The Workers' Front): Speaker, In Kesselhöh, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. 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 Bill says so in terms: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 112 marka or 11 months. The penalty is severe. The offence is common. The House may draw its own conclusion. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Shame.]

Willem Brenn (The Capital District; The Continuity Party): Speaker, Order and record. That is the whole of my party's programme and I do not apologise for its shortness. I have no quarrel with the Bill except that it comes twenty years late. The members for The Capital District have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. I oppose the third reading.

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 tellers reported the numbers to the Chair. The Speaker declared the Bill passed.

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