Debate on An Act for the Better Regulation of Weights and Measures

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1974 · col. 15929

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

Manfred Brenn (Minister of Finance): I move the third reading. 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. I read the material clause to the House. Sets the duty at 10 pfen in the marka. I commend the Bill to the House.

Gisela Krermann (Kesselhöh; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, My constituents in Kesselhöh wrote to me about the Bill, all 4 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The members for the reed districts will ask, as they always ask, what the Bill means for the harvest and the causeways. The material provision is this: Sets the duty at 10 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to note it. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. I oppose the third reading. [Hear, hear.]

Manfred Lenz (Westgau; 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 Westgau wrote to me about the Bill, all 4 of them, and they were against it until they read it. 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. I oppose the third reading. [Interruption.]

Bertil Keichba (Westgau; 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. Westgau 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 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. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [The Line!]

Hedwig Drexel (The Ostrand; The Reed Party): Speaker, The Ostrand 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 one thing: does the Bill send an officer out to the farms, and if it does, who feeds him? I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. I shall vote against the Bill.

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

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

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

The House proceeded to other business.