APPROVED BY CHAMBER

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 5 April 1926, Page 5

APPROVED BY CHAMBER

FRENCH BUDGET.

MONOPOLY PROJECTS CUSTOMS DUTIES INCREASED. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. PARIS, April 2. The Senate Finance Committee approved the Budget with the exception of the oil and sugar monopolies, which are being submitted to a special committee. ' A 'conflict is likely between the two Houses, although it is probable that the Senate will yield ultimately, in order to avoid a Ministerial crisis. The Senate will debate the Budget on April 12. The Chamber passed by 311 votes to 39 a Bill increasing by 30 per cent, the customs duties on all goods except tobacco, newsprint, corn, coffee, cocoa, and the. component parts of agricultural machinery.

The proposed oil and sugar monopolies promise to become a serious and perhaps a vital political issue. The Senate Finance Committee took the proposal out of the Taxation Bill, recommending the creation of a special Senate commission to study the Chamber’s monopoly projects. The Chamber passed the Taxation Bill because monopolies were included. The Finance Committee’s action seeks to avoid a direct clash between the two Houses, and may provide the Government with a means of escape from the immediate difficulty, but the Government may have to begin the whole taxation business over again, s-ince they must either maintain monopolies, risk defeat in the Chamber, or ask a reluctant Senate to accept proposals on which it risks defeat.

An unfavourable impression was created in the stock market by the weekly balance-sheet of the Banque de France showing an increase of a mil- - and a quarter francs in bank advances to the Treasury, and over 625,000,000 increase in fiduciary circulation. i '