The ultra-Protectionists in France have sustained some- thing of a
defeat. M. Maine, the head of the party and President of the Customs' Committee, proposed to raise the tax on imported wheat from 5 fr. to 8 fr. per quintal. The Russians, however, remonstrated so strenuously, that the Government declined to go beyond 7 fr. per quintal, and M. Maine gave way. The tax was, therefore, on Wednesday fixed by the Chamber at that figure, which, it is believed, will content neither French Protectionists nor Russian raisers of grain. The former say they are still not repaid for their labour, while the latter want free-trade in wheat, and a really large market for their produce. France, Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary are now all taxing the import of wheat, with this effect among others, that England being the only open market, the supply here is endless, and still abnormally cheap. It is gravely stated, by the way, that neither Russia, America, nor India now rule the wheat-market, the three being at the mercy of the enormous new supplies now forwarded by the Argentine growers. That is bad news for the farmers, but clearly our city populations will have enough to eat.
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