Debate on The Grain Duties Regulation Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1958 · col. 14415

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

Ludwig Dorn (Minister of Finance): I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. The trade has been consulted. The trade objects, as the trade always objects, and the Ministry has met it half way. In terms: Sets the duty at 8 pfen in the marka. Comes into force on 1 January 1959. I commend the Bill to the House.

Leon Nagel (Norrfeld; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, The Reed Party has read the Bill with the harvest in mind. The harvest is late this year and the causeways are under water in two districts. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. I sit for Norrfeld. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated. [The Line!]

Egon Tarn (The Osmoor; The Workers' Front): Mr. Speaker, The Osmoor has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. 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. The Bill says so in terms: Sets the duty at 8 pfen in the marka. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it. [Interruption.]

Leon Wendl (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 duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. The members for Westgau have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. I oppose the third reading.

Leon Brenn (Norrfeld; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister one thing: does the Bill send an officer out to the farms, and if it does, who feeds him? I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. I sit for Norrfeld. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. We shall divide the House. [Shame.]

Bruno Oberst (The Osmoor; The Reed Party): Speaker, I speak for the farms. A Bill that does not touch the farms is a Bill I can vote for with an easy mind; a Bill that does had better say so. My constituents in The Osmoor wrote to me about the Bill, all 6 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated. [Shame.]

Bruno Gerholt (The Ostrand; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, 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 should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. In The Ostrand, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. I shall vote against the Bill. [Shame.]

The Minister replied briefly. The fee was as printed; the officer was as printed; the House had the Bill and could read it.

The Speaker put the question. The Ayes were challenged and the House divided.

The Speaker declared the Ayes to have it and the Bill was passed.

The House adjourned when the court resumed after the midday adjournment.