Paris, Sept. 26. FOLLOWING the announcement that a monetary agreement "had been reached between Great Britain, the United States and France, the French Government late last night decided to devaluate the frane and requisition all gold in the country. The: new value of the franc will be at a point between 49 and 43 mil-grammes of gold of 900/1000 fineness. The pound sterling in now be worth between 96 and 103 francs, A stabil jon fund of ten milliard franes will assure the new parity.
An official decree has been issued closing the French stock exchange until further notice, Another provides a moratorium, at the request of the debtor, on all commercial payments in' gold or foreign currencies falling due after September 26. To protect those who have contracted mortgage loans, there will be arbitrary conversion of all provincial and municipal loans to a five per cent, basis. Steps proposed by the Government to offset the alteration in the exchange value of the franc will include the abolition of duties on certain commodities such as petrol and sugar.
It is learned that sixteen bills governing the new financial arrangement are being submitted to Parliament, provisions being included to compensate French nationals suffering heavy loss. Although the Chamber of Deputies was normally not due to meet till November, a special session, to be devoted exclusively to financial matters, has been called for Monday.—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.