During the past week the condition of the French Ministry
has been precarious, partly owing to the internal difficulties with which it has been faced and partly to the fact that the Prime Minister is still on a sick-bed and cannot easily settle the thorny questions with which the Cabinet is confronted. The worst of these—the champagne question—has, however, been settled for the time, and thus the chief rock ahead avoided. In the Senate on Thursday the Minister of Agri- culture announced that the system of regional delimitation instituted in 1908 is to be superseded. The Government pro- pose that wine and other regional products shall rely for protection against adulteration and fraudulent imitation upon the Law of 1842, which is to be amended in this sense. The Civil Courts are to be rendered competent to afford redress, and the procedure before the Courts is to be simplified. Further, special control of stocks of wines and spirits is to be esta- blished. The Government hopes to be able to table its proposals before the end of this month. This means that the injurious attempt to regulate the wine trade will, to a great extent, come to an end. Though the order of the day adopted by the Senate did not express confidence in the Government, it at any rate was not one of censure but rather of expectancy. It was adopted by 265 votes to 16.
