Antiquated and Awkward Financial Methods: The Reduction of Army Service Frox Our Own Paris, Apr. 26.
Residents in France meet from time to time with curious examples of the antiquated business methods still prevailing, especially in regard to one of the most ordinary events of everyday life—the transfer of money from one person to another. One cannot imagine Great Britain or America consenting to abolish the cheque system, even though it sometimes assists, fraud. Tu France, the cheque is regarded with suspicion; itis the poor relation in. the financial family, In the times of stress following the war, statesmen tried to encourage payments by cheque, as a means of reducing the note Circulation, but with very little success, Messengers en uniform and cocked hats continue to carey large sums in notes between banks and business. houses.
The Post Office will not accept a cheque in payment of a telephone subscription, You must either go to the head-office of your district and hand over the cash each quarter, go to some other post-office and buy a postal order.
When you have to do with a provineial cheque, you can never sure of what may happen, Three weeks after paying in for collection. by his Paris bank (one of the largest) a cheque drawn on an account in the south of France, an Englishman who was unacquainted with the peculiarities of French banking methods took it for granted that the money had been placed to his credit, and drew against: it in perfectly good faith, to pay some tradesmen's bills. A few days late he was horrified to hear from th police commissary of his district that he would be arrested for pass ing a worthless cheque, unless he could give some satisfactory explanation. Eventually, after a visit to his bank and to the commissary, his explanation was accepted and' the matter dropped. He became aware for the first time that French Danks are entitled to a delay of anything from 30 to 70 days before crediting customers with tf# amount of cheques which have been handed to them for collection from distant parts of France.
The Extremity of Caution In the ease of a cheque drawn on a bank in the chief town of a de partment, the period is 15 days, plus two days for every 50 kilometres of distance between the bank on which the cheque is drawn and the bank entrusted with the collection. ly classed as "chefs: the period other places" 40 days, with the same additional time for mileage in each case. In other words, if a man who keeps his account in Paris sends a cheque to his wife who is on holiday, say, at Cannes (which is the chief town of a canton and about 1,000 kilometres from the capital)'the bank reserves the right to keep the poor Indy. wi days before xiving her Apparently the banks carry caution to the extent, of providing Yor the eventuality of a breakdown of all modern forms of communication, making it necessary to send mes: sengers on foot with " of notes:
To send money by postal order oF telegraphic order to a foreigner living in France #n unacquainted with the ways of the country is frequently unsatisfactory, on ace count of the abundance of proofs; of identity which have to be produced before the post-office consents to part with the money. The best way is to go to a bank and ask for fa cheque payable. in the payee's place of residence, but, as a final Precaution, this cheque should be sent by registered letter. This is countly in which money is treated with a respect involving many forms and ceremonies, Army Reforms, It now appears certain that tke reduction of the principal period of service in the French Army from eighteen months to twelve will ber come an accomplished fact next year. The reform would ha impracticable unless the ment could obtain the services sufficient number of what are called "militaire de carviére," or profes sional soldiers, who remain in the army after the close of their period of compulsory service. These men, 'a8 instructors and non-commission." ed officers, provide the stiffening without which troops become a mere undisciplined rabble, When the pre= vious reduction, from two years to eighteen months, took place in 1028, the Government' of the day omitted to provide sufficient inducements for the time-expired men to re-english and the result was a dangerous shortage of trained soldiers, Wiser counsels now prevail, The pay, bonuses, and allowances to men reenlisting have been me creased and a special Act of Parliament has been passed, defining: the rights of non-commissioned officers similar to those of officers abling them to prosecutd the Communist and other revolt ie tionary sheets which have developed 'a habit of insulting them, ne part of the Bolshevik tactics, ' The sult of these meantes is consider. able increase in the number of trained men remaining in the army Ju Indo-China, the number of plications is ne tually in. excess the vaeanel
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.