Debate on An Act for the Better Licensing of Wine Excise

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1958 · col. 14489

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

Ludwig Dorn (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 4 pfen in the marka. The Bill is in the hands of the House.

Sigmund Gatich (The Ostrand; 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 people of The Ostrand will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it. [Hear, hear.]

Otto Keimann (The Capital District; The Assembly Union): Speaker, The Union has no quarrel with the purpose of the Bill; its quarrel is with the fee, and with the officer who will collect it. I sit for The Capital District. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. 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. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it.

Erna Gristen (Norrfeld; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, The Union has no quarrel with the purpose of the Bill; its quarrel is with the fee, and with the officer who will collect it. Norrfeld 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. We shall divide the House.

Paula Jann (The Sudmark; The Workers' Front): Mr. Speaker, The Workers' Front has looked for the working man in this Bill and found him in the schedule, paying. 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 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 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 question being put, a division was called for, and the members went to the lobbies.

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.