NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21086, 21 January 1932, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

POPULATION OF FRANCE. The results of the census held in Franco last March aro now complete. The total population is shown as 41.834,923, of whom 38,944,000 are French, subjects and 2,890,923 are aliens. These figures show an increase of 1,091,026, made up of 695,745 French subjects and 395,281 foreigners, over the figures compiled in 1926. By the loss of Alsace-Lorraine the area of France was reduced by 5605 square miles arid the population from 38,067,000 in 1866 to 36,103,000 in 1872. The census of 1911 showed a total population of 39,209,518. With the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine under the Treaty of Versailles the area of France was increased to the former figure of 212,659 square miles and about 1,750,000 were added to the population. Nevertheless, owing to the loss of life during the war, the census population in 1921 was 395,474 less than that of France excluding Alsace-Lorraine in 1911. In 1926 the population had grown to 40,743,897, including nearly 2,500,000 aliens. The increase now disclosed is, therefore, substantially less than in the 1921-26 period, when 1,534,000 were added to the population. REGULATION OF TRANSPORT. The principle of excluding long-distance motor passenger services from the central congested area was adopted by the traffic commissioner of the London metropolitan area, Mr. Gleeson Robinson, . in his decisions upon a number of cases where applications had been made for express carriage or stage carriage licences to operate service.! between London and various suburban towns over a large area surrounding the metropolis. The commissioner said that in his opinion limited-stop services should not be operated within the central area of London described by the Minister of Transport. The fare stages of such limited-stop services should be long enough to prevent the services from entering into wasteful competition with short stage vehicles. Tlio passengers on those services were passengers proceeding for considerable distances. He was of opinion, therefore, that in view of the seriously congested state of the central area, services of that kind should be operated only to certain definite points just outside the central area. Passengers who had travelled by them from the distant points around London could then reach their several destinations in central London by the ordinary omnibus, tramway and underground rail services. Similarly, those services would act as feeders to collect from various parts around the central area passengers who desired to avail themselves of the limited-stop coach services to distant points around London. FRENCH LOSSES IN STERLING. The suspension of gold payments by the Bank of England not only stopped the withdrawal of foreign funds from London; it also involved heavy losses to foreign creditors through the immediate depreciation of the pound. The magnitude of those losses is illustrated by the facts officially disclosed in regard to the Bank of France. The bank acquired a large amount of foreign currency between August, 1926. and June, 1928, a period that covered the active depreciation of the franc. These foreign currency holdings were really accumulated in consequence of the flight from the franc; if they had not been purchased the franc would not have fallen so heavily. The dimensions of the flight from the franc may be gathered from the fact now disclosed that the Bank of France acquired about £140,000,000 during the pre-stabilisation period. It subsequently sold £80,000,000, and at the time of Britain's suspension of gold .payments its holdings stood at about £62,000,000. At the present rate of exchange this is worth about £44,000,000 in gold. Early in December arrangements were made between the Government and the bank by %vhich the bank is to receive compensation from the Government for these losses by means of payments by the sinking fund administration extending to 1945. According to the official explanation, the pounds were acquired between August, 1926, and June, 1928, "in the public interest," and later, the bank, in agreement with the Government, abstained from realising its holdings of sterling. SET OFF AGAINST PROFITS. Commenting on these arrangements, the City editor of the Times remarks that Britain was a heavy loser by the depreciation and devaluation of Continental currencies after the war—greater losses than those suffered by other countries through the suspension of gold payments. In the case of the Bank of France the loss is more in the nature of a book-keeping entry than of a real loss, for when the franc was devaluated to one-fifth of its value a large profit was made out of the consequently increased value in francs of its gold assets, which went to the French Government. The latter, therefore, can well afford to make good the loss out of the former gold profit that it made, not to mention the large gain which the French Government secured at the expense of the British holders of the French war loans issued in Britain. The Paris correspondent of the Times also emphasised the point that the present losses of the Bank of France were due to the use made of the pound for French purposes in the past. "The detailed mechanism of the transactions between the Bank of France and the Government may prove of interest at a Inter date," he added. "It will then be found that the wheel which M. Poincare set in motion has, in some sort, turned the full circle against him. He bolstered up the franc with pounds and he put the Caisse d'Amortissemenh (sinking fund administration), as he thought, beyond the reach of political raiders as a solid foundation of French credit. His successors found a loophole in its defences; and the loophole seems to be in process of .widening to-day^