OBITUARY

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21759, 16 April 1936, Page 12

OBITUARY

MR D. R. DE COSTA (rEESS ASSOCIATION TELEGBAM.) GISBORNE, April 15.. The death has occurred of Mr David Ralph De Costa, formerly secretary of the Poverty Bay Tjirf Club, for many years, and well Known in racing circles elsewhere. He was ill for some time.

M. HENRI CHERON (UKITED FHESB ASSOCIATION—COPYBIGHX.)

PARIS, April. 14.

The death has occurred of the former Cabinet Minister. M. Henri Cheron, who figured in an incident during ThQ Hague War Debts Conference in 1929, when Lord Snowden, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, described some of his statements as "grotesque and ndiM. Cheron was furious and sent his second to Lord Snowden, who explained that the English words were a common parliamentary expression and did not bear the offensive French meaning, upon which M. Cheron was mollified.

Henri Cheron, the French statesman, was born at Lisieux, Normandy, in May, 1867. He became a lawyer and practised at the court of appeal at Caen. From 1894 to 1908 he was Mayor of his native town. In 1902 it elected him to the Chamber of Deputies, where his advancement was rapid thanks to his excellent speeches on financial questions. In 1906, M. Clemenceau made him Under-Secretary for War and he did much to improve the lot of the soldier. Then, as Under-Sec-retary for the Navy, Rapporteur-Gen-eral of the Finance Commission and Minister for Labour, he showed a tremendous capacity for work and high qualities as an administrator. Elected Senator for Calvados in 1913, he once more specialised in budgetary questions, and during the war kept a sharp eye on military expenditure. As Minister for Agriculture, a post to which M. Poincare appointed him in 1922, he was I always ready to sanction productive expenditure, but was an enemy of prodigality. Made Rapporteur-General of the Senate Finance Commission in 1925, he gave valuable aid to the "Government of National Union" in bringing | about economies in the public services. When M. Bokanowski. Minister for Commerce, Posts and Aviation, was killed in an aeroplane crash in September, 1928, M. Cheron succeeded in him as head of the first two departments. He presented the Finance Commission with an estimate which raised his salary from 80,000 to 180,000 francs. The increase was allowed and was applied to the pay of his colleagues, as all French Ministers are paid alike. Five years later he persuaded them to. agreeUo a 10 per cent, salary cut. M. Cheron was Finance Minister from November, 1928 to November, 1929, under M. Poincare, M. Briand, and M. Tardieu. The Tardieu Government fell through Cheron's proposals regarding veterans' pensions and reduction of taxes. He became Minister for Justice in November, 1930, under M. Tardieu and retained the post in the Steeg Government. In the Paul-Bon-cour Cabinet of December, 1932, he was' again Finance Minister. , Drastic economies and increased taxes were necessary to balance the budget. His proposals were very unpopular and on January 28, 1933, they were defeated, and the Government fell. M. Cheron was the most caricatured man in France. His corpulence, his large astonished eyes, his shabby portfolio, his eternal woollen muffler wrapped several times round his ears, and his disregard of his personal appearance were eagerly seized upon by the humorists.