26 JANUARY 1934, Page 2

Business with France • France's refusal to restore the quotas

•of British imports to the leVel from which they were recently reduced cannot be acqUiesCed in. If the:- aim of M. Chautemps' Government is to use, the discriminatory • quotas as- a -bargaining-counter in the 'negotiations ; for a commercial treaty, it will have to be told squarely that there will be no negotiations at all -till we-are placed in as favourable a position as the United States. In regard to the embargo on British woollen products, our exporters are up in arms in natural indignation. Models made by the French modists but of British samples specially prepared for the French market must now be scrapped, and it is pointed out that six months' trade in these materials will now be lost even if the embargo is removed next month. Mr. Runeiman is showing commendable firmness, and France. is extremely foolish in rousing irritation on these points when she ,needs this country's political support urgently.