BELGIUM. 



85 



Ministry of Public Works, 16,712,281 francs; 

 of the Ministry of Raih\ -. and Tele- 



graphs, 83,850,116 francs; of the Ministry of 

 War, 4fi,u03,270 francs; of the Ministry of 

 Finance, 15,290,905 francs; of the gendarmerie, 

 3.9-16,000 francs ; repayments and other ex- 

 penditures, 1,636,500 francs. 



The national debt, including the capitalized 

 value of annuities amounting to 30,106,000 

 francs, exceeds 2,500,000.000 francs. The 

 funded debt consists of 219,959,633 francs of 

 2^-per-cent. bonds, 519,859,000 francs of 3-per- 

 cents., and 1,185,509,458 of 3^-per-cents. The 

 credit of the Government, notwithstanding its 

 large and gradually increasing debt, is so good 

 that the 3i-per-cent. bonds stand at 2 per cent, 

 above par in the market. 



The Post-Offlce. The number of letters that 

 passed through the Belgian post-office in 1886 

 was 90,744,556, not reckoning 14,123,401 

 official letters; the number of postal cards, 

 26.568,401 ; printed inclosnres, 55,268,000 ; 

 newspapers, 94,394,000. The receipts during 

 1886 amounted to 14,806,595 francs, and the 

 expenditure to 8,893,171 francs. 



The Army. The army budget for 1888 fixes 

 the peace effective at the following figures : 



The staff, numbering 125 officers, and 772 

 officers of the medical corps, are not included 

 in this statement. The number of horses is 

 8,900 ; of guns, 200. The war-strength of the 

 army is 120,000 men, 13,800 horses, and 240 

 guns. There is besides a civic guard, which in 

 1887 numbered 41,222 men. 



An extensive plan for fortifying the line of 

 the Meuse was adopted in 1887, but the Gov- 

 ernment has resolved for the present to direct 

 its efforts chiefly to extending and arming the 

 fortifications at Liege and Xamur. These two 

 fortresses will absorb all the army at its pres- 

 ent strength, except the troops that are re- 

 quired to garrison Brussels and the central 

 citadel at Antwerp. The Ministry of War has 

 obtained a credit of 60.000,000 francs for the 

 purchase of modern ordnance of large caliber. 

 The works at Liege, when extended to the ad- 

 jacent heights, are considered sufficient to 

 arrest the passase of a German army up the 

 Meuse valley. Xarnnr on the French side is 

 not so strong a position, and only guards one 

 of the routes from France, while that by way 

 of Mons and Charleroi is left open. Contracts 

 have been awarded for the construction of 

 twenty-one metallic forts along the Meuse, 

 which will strengthen the defenses against a 

 German invasion. They will consist of cupo- 

 las and will be completed by the end of 1890. 



Commerce and Industry. The returns for the 

 general commerce of 1886 give the value 

 of the imports as 2,662,715,581 francs, and 

 of the exports as 2,512,122,555 francs. The 

 imports for home consumption amounted to 

 1,335,049,000 francs, and the exports of Bel- 

 gian produce to 1,181,974,000 francs. The 

 imports of breadstuffs were valued at 205.- 

 069,000 francs ; the exports at 54,514,000 

 francs ; imports of textile materials, 177,- 

 211,000 francs; exports, 98,154,000 francs; 

 imports of yarns, 27,121,000 francs; exports, 

 13'i. 261,000 francs ; imports of tissues, 31,- 

 546,000 francs; exports, 67,238,000 francs; 

 imports of live animals. 72,047,000 francs; ex- 

 ports, 34,641,000 francs; imports of hides and 

 skins, 79,926,000 francs; exports, 69,929,000 

 francs ; imports of chemicals, 52,669,000 

 francs; exports, 18,551,000 francs; imports of 

 timber, 50,972,000 francs; of metals, 29,866,- 

 000 francs; of' oils, 21,022,000 francs; exports 

 of iron, wrought and unwrought, 54,118,000 

 francs ; of machinery, 50,813,000 francs ; of 

 coal, 50,127,000 francs; of glass, 48,940,000 

 francs ; of sugar, 32,567,000 francs ; of paper, 

 23,614,000 francs; of steel, 17,672,000 francs ; 

 of arms, 13,127,000 francs. The export of 

 sugar in 1885 exceeded the import by 53,000 

 metric tons. The product of pig and wrought 

 iron in 1885 was 1,182,125 tons, and in 1886 it 

 was 1,167,132 tons. 



The share of France in the import trade of 

 1886 was 251,031,092 francs, and in the ex- 

 port trade, 329,580,022 francs. Great Britain 

 furnished 172,324,410 francs of the imports, 

 and took 236,416,435 francs of the exports. 

 The imports from the Netherlands were larger, 

 amounting to 199,841,114 francs, while the 

 United States came next after England with 

 160,394,949 francs of imports, Germany fol- 

 lowing with 151,941,981 francs, and then Rus- 

 sia with 74,224,681 francs, the Argentine Re- 

 public with 59,981,433 francs, Sweden and 

 Norway with 37,941,106 francs, Roumania 

 with 31,307,880 francs, Peru with 29,840,208 

 francs, Brazil with 21,346,203 francs, and 

 Uruguay with 17,574,454 francs. The third 

 largest consumer cf Belgian products was Ger- 

 many, the exports to that country amounting 

 to 195,790,476 francs. The Netherlands took 

 175,417,466 francs. The exports to other 

 countries were small in comparison, 40.647,- 

 175 francs going to the United States, 34,064,- 

 322 francs to Italy, and 29,457,862 francs to 

 Switzerland, after which come Spain, the Ar- 

 gentine Republic, Brazil. Turkey, and Russia. 



\avigation. In 1886 the number of vessels 

 entered at Belginn ports was 6.210. of 4,094,- 

 026 tons, of which 3,367, with a total tonnage 

 of 2.351.3-44, were British. The number 

 cleared was 6,206, of 4,060,901 tons. The 

 commercial marine in 1887 numbered 67 ves- 

 sels, of 86,837 tons, of which 55 vessels, of 

 81,285 tons, were steamers. There were 342 

 fishing vessels, of 12.009 tons. 



Railroad*. The lines worked by the state 



