M. Michael, the Home Minister, made light of the past
difficulty. He asserted that very few of the municipalities had resisted the survey ; Only 207 out of 37,237. This called forth M. Dusellier with some strange disclosures- The Minister's assertion was founded on incorrect returns; many munici-
ktetes which opposed the measure being set down as having approved of it. was his own arrondissement, Montron : the Council first voted the sur- vey legal, but then declared the Ministerial mode of taking it illegal. The Ekb-Prefect, learning the first decision, and not awaiting or expecting the se- cond, sent off word to Paris by telegraph that the Municipal Council of his arrondissement were for the survey. By return of post 500 franca were sent down by Government to be expended for the benefit of the municipality. The Sub-Prefect's error being corrected, the 500 francs were not expended. Such is the mode in which districts are administered in France. Five hundred francs are given for a road or a bridge in a Ministerial district-nothing to a, Liberal one.
A disturbance in the Chamber interrupted these disclosures, and the sitting was suspended. [Municipal corruption seems to be remarkably cheap in France : a borough for 201.!]