NATIONALISING BANKS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24740, 4 December 1945, Page 5

NATIONALISING BANKS

FRENCH ASSEMBLY PASSES BILL

BANK OF FRANCE AND - FOUR OTHERS (N.Z Press Association—Copyright) >Rec. 7 p.m.) . PARIS, December 2. After a stormy session to-day the French Constituent Assembly passed a 1 bill to nationalise the £ank of France and the four big deposit banks. General de Gaulle emphasised the importance the Government attached to the bill, and he urged the Assembly to make no profound changes in the text of the bill, which had been most carefully prepared. The .Minister of Finance (M. Rene Pleven) said that the French Governntent had not followed the example of the British Government, which had rationalised only the Bank of England, because the peoples’ temperaments were different. There existed a rigid discipline m England, where a single word from the Government to the Bank of England sufficed to assure absolute discipline of the British banks. A Socialist deputy, M. Pineau, outlined the case for the Finance Commission. He accused the French banks of manipulating their credit powers in pre-war years in favour of big business and governments which favoured big business. The banks, in 1933. 1935, and J936, had intervened to hamstring the Leftist governments by the manipulating on the ' Bourse of Government bonds and by the export of capital. The four major deposit banks to be rationalised are the Credit Lvonnais. Societe Generate. Comptoir National d Escompte, and Banque National pour le Commerce et I’lndustrie. M. Pineau caused a surprise when he announced that on certain important points the commission disagreed with the Government. Support by Whole Cabinet General de Gaulle intervened in the debate, emphasising that all the members of his Cabinet unanimously supported the bill as drafted. The Assembly rejected the Finance Commission’s \proposal to extend nationalisation to six banks instead of four and adopted the Government’s original proposal. The Finance Commission, however, scored a victory ever the Government when it had the proposed compensation clause amended and the Assembly voted in favour of shareholders getting fixed interestbearing bonds based on the average price of their shares between September 1, 1944, and October 31, 1945, instead of continuing to be entitled to dividends on their shares as originally pronosed by the Government. The Paris correspondent of the “Daily Mail” says that the Bank of France and the four other banks will be State-owned from January 1, 1946. FRENCH MISSION TO MOSCOW (Rec. 7 p.m.) MOSCOW. Dec. 2. A French delegation has arrived in Moscow for trade negotiations and also tq present the French point of view on the Ruhr and Rhineland questions. BRAZILIANS VOTE FIRST ELECTION IN’ l; 5 YEARS FOUR CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENCY (Rec. 5.5 fc.m.) BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 2 Heavy voting was. reported throughout Brazil as the nation went to the polls for the first time in 15 years to elect a President and Congress, which will draft a new constitution. The Associated Press correspondent says it was evident that most of the 7,613,000 voters were participating in the freest election in the country’s history. A holiday atmosphere marked the election after' a stormy campaign. The Presidential candidates are: General Enrico Dutra, who is supported by the former President (Dr. Vargas); General Eduardo Gomez, who is the likely victor; Senhor Yeddo Fiuza, a non-Communist with Communist support; and Senhor Mario Telles, the Agrarian candidate. The counting of the votes will begin to-morrow, but the final results will not be available for a week. The Chief Justice of Brazil (Senhor Jose Linhares), who became President after Dr. Vargas was deposed by the Army, will relinquish office as soon as his successor is elected. THE INTERNATIONAL COURT ELECTION OF JUDGES (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, December 2. Britain, at a meeting of- a committee of the United Nations Preparatory Commission, supported an Australian proposal that the election of judges of the International Court of Justice should be postponed, arguing that it was more important to have thorough elections than quick ones. Russia, Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, Norway, Denmark, Venezuela, China, Brazil, Belgium, the Ukraine, and the Philippines opposed the suggestion on the ground that it was essential for the harmonious working of the system that all organs of the United Nations should be constituted at the same time. They claimed that since it was four months after nominations had been invited on September 14 there should have been sufficient time for the process of selection. The Australian proposal will be discussed again at the next meeting. The United Nations Preparatory Commission has decided to establish two committees of the General Assembly, one to deal with economic and financial questions and the other to deal with social, humanitarian, and cultural questions. PERMANENT SEAT OF UNITED NATIONS CLAIMS BY 26 U.S. AND CANADIAN CITIES (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, December 2. Representatives of eight of the 26 cities —24 American and two Canadian —which are seeking to be selected as the site for the permanent seat of the United Nations Organisation, addressed a sub-committee of the Preparatory Commission in support of their claims. Some showed miniature motion pictures illustrating the advantages and amenities of their respective cities. There were also masses of brochures and photographs from other cities which had not sent representatives to London. The Philadelphia delegation held out as a bait 150 golf courses. The San Francisco delegation submitted a letter from the Governor of California to the Executive Committee of the organisation, in which he stated that he was willing to concede dominion over any land needed for their purposes. Tribute to War Dead.—Several thousands, including representatives of the Dominions, attended a ceremony in the Brookwood military cemetery, Surrey, to-day as a tribute to the war dead. The Royal Air Force section in Brookwood cemetery alone contains the graves of more than 700 Dominion and colonial airmen.—London, December 2. ’