M. Queuille Goes
The break-up of M. Queuillc's Government is all but an accom- plished fact. It has lasted for the record period of thirteen months, and stood France in good stead, securing a period, if not of political stability, at least of freedom from political convulsions. If M. Queuille's resignation is accepted by the President immediately or tendered to the Assembly on Saturday, he will leave office fortified by the knowledge that the fabric of French political and economic life rests on much firmer foundations than when his Government was formed. It is brought down now, like several administrations before it, by the Socialists, who, subjected to steady trade union pressure for higher wages, feel compelled to back such demands through fear of playing into the hands of the Communists. What precisely has caused the Socialist Minister of Labour, M. Daniel Mayer, to deliver his ultimatum at this moment is not known, since his objection was to statements in an undelivered, and therefore unreported, broadcast which M. Queuille was to have given on Tuesday evening. But, broadly, the trouble arises from fears of a rise hi the cost of living as result of the devaluation of the franc. That some consideration is due to the lowest-paid workers was generally agreed, and M. Queuille accepted it in principle. But he would apparently not go far enough to satisfy M. Mayer, and it is not surprising that he feels unable to sustain longer the heavy burden be has borne without flagging for over a year. Some days of manoeuvring are likely to be in prospect, for unless M. Qucuille himself is willing to try to form a new Cabinet, the task must be faced by someone else, in the first instance by a Socialist, and to patch together .a new coalition with a stable majority in the Assembly will be a formidable undertaking.
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