Debate on The Vagrancy Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1958 · col. 14464

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 town councils have asked for the Bill by their clerks. The Ministry has drafted it as the councils asked, and shortened it. The Bill provides as follows. Penalty on conviction: a fine of 1124 marka or 19 months. The Bill is in the hands of the House.

Hugo Grau (The Osmoor; The Continuity Party): Speaker, The Continuity Party supports every measure that keeps the record whole and opposes every measure that does not. This one keeps it whole. The towns asked for it. The towns will pay for it. That is the usual arrangement and I do not quarrel with it. In The Osmoor, 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.]

Sigmund Marrow (Kesselhöh; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, The land pays for everything in the end. The Reed Party will vote as the land would vote if it could. My constituents in Kesselhöh wrote to me about the Bill, all 9 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The towns asked for it. The towns will pay for it. That is the usual arrangement and I do not quarrel with it. The material provision is this: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 1124 marka or 19 months. I ask the House to note it. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated.

Hugo Bauer (The Sudmark; The Reed Party): 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 land pays for everything in the end. The Reed Party will vote as the land would vote if it could. The material provision is this: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 1124 marka or 19 months. I ask the House to note it. The towns asked for it. The towns will pay for it. That is the usual arrangement and I do not quarrel with it. I oppose the third reading. [The Line!]

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

The House adjourned at the rising of the court.