Debate on An Act for the Better Licensing of Gaming

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1974 · col. 15998

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

Gisela Ebner (Minister of Justice): I move the third reading. The Bill tidies a corner of the code that the courts have complained of for a generation. I read the material clause to the House. Penalty on conviction: a fine of 61 marka or 1 months. The Bill is in the hands of the House.

Kerstin Jost (The Sudmark; The Reed Party): Speaker, The land pays for everything in the end. The Reed Party will vote as the land would vote if it could. The members for The Sudmark have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. The courts have asked for the Bill and the courts should have it. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I shall vote against the Bill.

Willem Moner (Norrfeld; The Reed Party): Mr. 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. 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 penalty is severe. The offence is common. The House may draw its own conclusion. The material provision is this: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 61 marka or 1 months. I ask the House to note it. I oppose the third reading. [The Line!]

Uwe Hallin (Westgau; The Continuity Party): Speaker, Nothing in the Bill disturbs the record. The Continuity Party asks only that the register be kept as it has always been kept. The members for Westgau have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. The courts have asked for the Bill and the courts should have it. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I shall vote against the Bill.

Viktor Brenn (Norrfeld; The Workers' Front): 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 members for Norrfeld have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. The penalty is severe. The offence is common. The House may draw its own conclusion. The material provision is this: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 61 marka or 1 months. I ask the House to note it. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Interruption.]

Otto Nanfand (The Osmoor; The Assembly Union): 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. 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. The material provision is this: Penalty on conviction: a fine of 61 marka or 1 months. I ask the House to note it. The penalty is severe. The offence is common. The House may draw its own conclusion. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated. [Interruption.]

The Minister, in reply, said that the points raised were answered in the printed Bill and that the Ministry would consider the rest.

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 adjourned at the rising of the court.