REHABILITATION OF FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 24, 23 October 1920, Page 9

REHABILITATION OF FRANCE

FUTURE ASSURED FINANCE MINISTER HOPEFUL <'By Telegranh-Prcss Association-OopyrigW ' Paris, October 20. In the Chamber of Deputies the Minister of Finance preseuted an optimistic financial statement He said that thanks to the untiring devotion of the poople the situation in ,the liberated regions was singularly good. Seventy-seven per cent, of the destroyed factories had been resumed, one mid a half million hectares of land reclaimed, and 57 per cent. sown. The corn harvest in ten of the devastated departments was (en million quintals. Sinilar progress was being made in rehabilitating the mines and railways. The reclamation of the country was bein,; conducted with the greatest difficulty, most of the population living in collars and shanties.

The Budget showed that, tho commercial deficit had been reduced from sixteen -to leu milliards. .Exports hud doubled, and imports had increased by three-fifths. The short-term American loan had been repaid, and the new taxation covered by the 1921 Budget showed IGI milliards for reconstruction and pensions, which was repayable by Germany. The whole situation indicated that the anxiety for the future of France was a thing of the past.—"Times " INDUSTRIAL CRISIS IN THE NORTH ■ Paris, October 21. The "Petit Journal" slates that there is an industrial crisis in Northern France, almost o\l the textile factories in Jjllc, Roubaix, and Tourcoing being clcsed. -There are few orders for woollen goods, and large stocks are on band unsold—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assii.