M. Duez, who bad been appointed one of the liquidators
of the property confiscated from the religious Orders in France, was arrested in Paris on Monday night on a charge of embezzlement. The total amount wiSch has " evaporated" is believed to be at least £200,000. The liquidation of the confiscated property was an operation which involved handling very large sums of money, and also demanded discretion politically. It is therefore strange to learn that the liqui- dators are not, properly speaking, State officials, but merely private persons commissioned by the Civil Tribunal. The French Government have apparently decided to shut the stable-door by ordering that " financial inspectors shall be placed at the disposal of the judicial authorities for the purpose of taking part in the verification of the liquidators' operations." But in the meantime they have to face political as well as financial damage.
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