FURTHER FRENCH CRISIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19383, 19 July 1926, Page 8

FURTHER FRENCH CRISIS.

Yet another French Ministry has fallen, and the eternal search for political stability is renewed. The crisis, as of yore, has arisen from the financial situation, the proposals of M. Caillaux proving unacceptable to a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. He asked for large powers. There was good reason. The situation has long been crying nut for drastic treatment. How gravely it has been viewed by many of the clearest minds in France was proved some time ago by a letter sent, to the President by a number of the great producers and manufacturers. Their signatures made a very imposing list, the most imposing ever attached to a French document. They called on Parliament to take energetic action to balance the Budget and stabilise the franc, and declared themselves ready to make any sacrifices demanded in the nation's interest. With impressive solemnity they asserted that unless radical action were taken France would suffer something worse than a political or financial crisis : constitutional government would be ira perilled. Their belief has been echoed within and beyond the boundaries of France, yet it has commanded insufficient acceptance in the Chamber and the Senate. That M. Caillaux should not be universally trusted is not surprising. He was under a cloud in the war period, and judged disloyal. But apparently no other man appears at present capable of commanding sufficient confidence to be entrusted with the dictatorial authority he insisted should be given to the Minister of Finance. Apparently, his proposals have not been examined on their merits. It is the fact that Parliament's prestige' was endangered by them that has thrown out them and M. Briand's Ministry. The deputies, offered the choice of heroic measures, have preferred to magnify their own office. Their decision gives point to the outcry raised in sogie quarters of France against political control of fiscal affairs, since Parliament has shown a chronic incapacity to grapple with them. This further dismissal of a Ministry on proposals to handle the finances of the country firmly augurs ill for whatever may be next tried in the political sphere. It is doubtful whether any Ministry formed in the present Parliament can do any better. France has escaped the lesser risk of a political dictatorship to fall once more into graver financial peril.