FRENCH LONG STOCKING

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2663, 7 January 1916, Page 8

FRENCH LONG STOCKING

EXCELLENT FINANCIAL STATE OK OUR. ALLY. 11l a carcful review ot' France's present economic situation, M. Edmond Tliery, tho well-known financial authority. declares that the outlook is very satisfactory. lie .shows, that the available monetary assets ars actually greater than at the beginning of 1914. The war debt ■sJ-'France totals a little over £300,000,000, compared witli AustriaGermany's war debt of £2,010.300,000. A remarkable feature of tho French war debt is the amount subscribed by the public to the Bonds and Obligations 0 f National Defence, £-101,'100,000. A considerable revival of commercial activity, too, is evident, as shown by tho increase in the yield from indirect tr.-scs and State monopolies, which were respectively £2,760,000 and £3,960,000 more in August and September last than in the first two months of the war. In spite of the occupation of ten departments by the enemy, the total yield for the first nine months of 1015 was £82,200,000, or only 23 per cent, less than for the corresponding period of 1913. Foreign exports, too, have improved.