for 1899 show that it is intended to spend about 6 per cent more than during the present year: in round numbers, about 304 million francs instead of 287 millions, This increase is the natural outcome of the larger number of ships now in commission, and as the numerous vessels now in the dockyards pass into the active list there will, of course, be a further rise in ordinary expenditure for the French taxpayer to face. M. Lockroy is said to hanker after some 14,600-ton battleships as a set-off to the British Channel Squadron, but ab present his shipbuilding programme is a secret. According to the Budget statement only five ships will be completed during 1809: the first-class cruiser Guichen, the second-class cruiser Protef, and thi destroyers. Nothing is said of the battleship Gaulois, which wont through her speed trials ome time ago without any guns on board. Apparently she will still he waiting for those guns when the year 1900 arrives!
18th November.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.