TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 20012, 28 October 1926, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Mexico appears in the public eye as a country torn by the strife between Church and State, but so far'the religious disturbances seem to have had smaller effect than was anticipated on the economic position, the latest advices tending to show that commerce and industry are proceeding, at least outwardly, much as usual. But, to make things easier, the National Treasury has suspended the decree of July 10 providing penalties for failure to meet pagares, or notes, in case of instalment-sales of land. The efforts of the Church party to bring about complete boycotts in this and that direction have failed of their purpose (says The Economist of September 4), while the Government professes to be in receipt of the usual revenues and to be suffering no particular monetary inconvenience. This year’s receipts, estimated at 315,000,600 pesos (£31,500,000), are so far being maintained, and in some directions promise to yield something even better; the expenditures, estimated at 305,000,000 pesos (£30,500,000) thus foreshadowing a balance on the budget of 10,000,000 pesos (£1,000,000), are, however, likely to be exceeded. The mines are producing more generously than for some years past. Precious metals improved 13,545,346 pesos (from 122,160,315 pesos, in 1924, to 135,705,661 pesos in 1925), thus [Hitting additional revenues, in the form of royalties, at the disposition of the Government; while a good harvest is expected, notwithstanding early damage to crops by the floods. On the other hand, oil-production has been declining for some time past, showing for last year a falling-off in value of 1,352,919 (from 293.350.613, in 1924, to 291,997,694 pesos, in 1925).

A wish expressed by St. Joan of Arc a few hours before she went to her death at the stake was realised in September when a new church, dedicated to the memory of .“soldiers who died in battle,” was consecrated in her native town of Domremy. The new church, which took thirty-three years to build, stands near the ancient church in which Joan, when a shepherd girl, took her first communion. This little church could only hold five hundred people, and as something like ten thousand came to celebrate her fete day every year the service had to be held in the open air. The new church is big enough to accommodate all the pilgrims to the saint’s birthplace. Those who have raised it have done so in compliance with a wish she expressed to Charles VII. shortly before her death, when she said she would like a building to be erected at Domremy in memory of soldiers who had died in war. The King promised to execute her wish, but he forgot, and succeeding generations also forgot until after the war of 1870 the Brotherhood of Notre Dame des Armees built a little chapel as a war memorial. This has fallen into decay, but in its place has arisen the new edifice to commemorate the saint of Domremy and all the warriors who have bled for France, from those she led against the English to the victims of the European war.