The Berlin correspondent of the Times gives in the issues
of Tuesday and Wednesday some information about the forth- coming German Estimates. The estimates are still being discussed by the Federal Council, and it appears that some of the States are objecting to the maintenance of the matricular contributions at eighty pfennigs per head. The contribution was raised from forty to eighty pfennigs in 1909. The ordinary estimates balance with a revenue and expenditure of £134,244,521. This is an increase compared with 1911 of £7,028,444. The extraordinary estimates show an expendi- ture of 26,723,654—a decrease of £4,125,135. As the revenue has also decreased, however, the extraordinary estimates require a loan of £2,187,918. The naval expenditure (M2,861,315) is £40,000 less than a year ago. The Army expenditure, on the other hand (M8,525,416), is £2,000,000 more. The correspondent says that further increases in naval and military expenditure in the course of next year are probable, though no suggestion of them is made in the estimates.
