M. Ronvier, the French Minister of Finance, has had fresh
difficulties with his Budget. He is still £600,000 short, and proposed to raise this sum by sharp duties on patent medi- cines, cosmetics, and mineral waters. The Budget Com- mittee, however, rejected his proposals, declaring that the money could be obtained by reductions, and refusing any addition to taxation of any sort. The War Minister will not surrender a penny ; but half the deficit or so has been covered by suspending some public works, and the Finance Minister is looking about for means of supplying the remainder. Under these circumstances, some Conservative Deputies pro- pose to levy a tax on foreigners residing in France, a measure which will be popular in the South, where the French work- men are annoyed by the immigration of Spaniards and Italians. It is argued that these immigrants, though they pay all taxes, enjoy an unfair advantage, because they enter the Republic young, escape their own national conscription, and are not liable to the French one. The proposal would at once evoke reprisals.
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