To the relief of everyone the French Budget is passed
after invitations to disaster down to• the last minute. M. Peret's continued and urgent appeals for support and for haste had some effect and M. Herriot last week advised the Radicals to support him, or at any rate not to wreck the Bill. Each Deputy seemed to want to see the Bill carried, but not to have his vote for it recorded. Each also wanted his Easter holidays. On Wednesday, March 31st, the taxe civique was passed by the Chamber : it is something between a supplementary income tax and a graduated poll tax. The clauses creating the monopolies in sugar and petrol were also passed, though M. Peret himself showed no enthusiasm for them. The Socialists withdrew their opposition to the " turnover " tax, and, thanks to their and other abstentions, the Chamber passed the Bill early on Good Friday morning. On Saturday night the Senate passed it after a certain amount of bickering over small points and the rejection of the sugar monopoly.
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