FRENCH CABINET AGREES ON BUDGET

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22818, 13 December 1948, Page 8

FRENCH CABINET AGREES ON BUDGET

LONDON. Dee. 8

The French Cabinet, at a four-hour meeting, agreed on the size of the 1949 Budget and authorised the Premier, M. Queuille, to call for a vote of confidence at any time during the debate on the Budget proposals, says the British United Press correspondent in Paris-

Reuter's correspondent says the .Minister of Finance, M. Mittcrand. said the ordinary Budget totalled £1.200,000,000 and was practically balanced, but he did not reveal the nature of the additional taxation which would be necessary to balance it. He added that the Government had agreed on measures to finance a reconstruction and modernisation Budget which is unofficially reported to total £650,000.000. Reuter’s correspondent says Hint French official and political circles have been jolted by a hint by Mr. David Bruce, the Marshal! Aid mission chief in Paris, that the United States expected France to make still greater efforts to qualify for further aid. ' In the Parliamentary lobbies it: was feared that Mr. Bruces warning, which appeared during the Cabinet meeting, might be interpreted by Marshall Plan opponents as undue pressure on the Government.