Papers and Documents relating to the Foreign Relations of Hungary, Volume 2, 1921 (Budapest, 1946)

Documents

1921 743 ' In the matter of finance also, serious efforts have been made. The depreciation of the national currency, the instability of the rate of exchange — inevitable results of the war — have increased the cost of living a hundred times. Private incomes and the resources of the State have diminished enormously. The country, devastated, dismembered, bleeding from a thousand wounds, has lost its industries and has seen its commerce wither away. At this most critical juncture, the Minister of Finances

1 is putting into force a scheme of wholesale reorganization, in order to meet debts contracted abroad, and to avoid breaking the country's pledges. The draft of the new fiscal law renders individuals, commercial entreprises, movable and immovable property, including landed estates, liable to taxes heavier than those exacted in any other country. In conformity with the Treaty, agreements have been made with France and Great Britain for the payment of pre-war Hungarian debts. In conformity with the provisions of the Treaty, a Decree of the Minister of Finance fixes the Customs duties and the dues to be levied on goods coming from the Entente countries. These Customs duties and dues are not to be greater than those which, before the war, were imposed upon the goods of the most-favoured countries. The application of the majority of the provisions of the Treaty necessitates direct conversations between the parties concerned. To this end, negotiations have been entered upon with the Succession States, particularly with Czecho-Slovakia, in order to carry out the provisions of the Treaty relating to the handing over of archives and cadastral surveys, to the delivery of raw materials, the resumption of trade, the re-establishment of traffic, and the regulations as to the personal status of the inhabitants. A recent Decree

2 of the Minister of the Interior

3 dissolved companies and private organizations whose activities appeared to be at variance with the provisions of the Treaty. The Government has, in this way, done its best to suppress the Irredentist movement it was accused of fomenting. 1 Hegedűs. 3 Count Ráday. 2 July 5. No. 57401 'B. M.