BELGIUM 967 



i There has been little change in Belgian policy with the new reign, though in character 

 King Albert is altogether unlike his predecessor. The new King's civil list, as provided 

 by the Constitution (Art. 77), was fixed for the entire reign, at the same amount as that 

 of Leopold II 132,000 per annum. 



The Government has remained in the hands of the Catholic party. Up to the end 

 of 1912 not a single Socialist burgomaster had been appointed by the king, but in most 

 large cities a Liberal fills that office, .'i^ 



By-elections during 1910 had to some extent pulled down the Catholic majority in 

 parliament, but at the general elections of 1912 they were returned in still greater force, 

 a result all the more striking as a sign of public opinion, considering that Proportional 

 Representation is supposed to act as a check on sudden revulsions of this kind. On 

 June 1 7th the Cabinet of M. Schollaert, who had been Premier since 1908, was obliged 

 to resign over an Education bill. Political feeling went against the proposed plan for 

 dividing State grants between official and voluntary schools (ecoles libres) according to 

 the number of pupils. The educational test system (bon scolaire) is a novel form of the 

 subsidized voluntaryism (la liber te subsidise) in high favour with the Catholic party, 

 and already put in practise by them in social legislation. Liberals and Socialists together 

 made a stand against it, and at the same time started a campaign against plural voting, 

 demanding that Art. 47 of the Constitution be revised and Manhood Suffrage, pure and 

 simple, substituted. Under the system of proportional representation in Belgium, it 

 should be noted, supplementary votes are allotted as follows: one extra vote to heads of 

 families of the age of thirty-five, and to voters possessed either of a property qualification 

 or an income above a certain amount; while two extra votes are given for official status 

 or the higher educational diplomas ; but no individual may have more than three votes. 



There were 1,721,755 qualified electors on the roll of voters for the Chamber in 1912; 

 and 1,460,236 comprised the electorate for the Senate (for which the age qualification of 

 voters has been raised from twenty-five to thirty); but thanks to the plural system, the 

 total number of votes for the Chamber was 2,763,513 and 2,475,679 for the Senate. In 

 the new parliament there are 101 Catholics, 45 Liberals, 38 Socialists and 2 Christian- 

 Democrats; while in the Senate there are 54 Catholics, 31 Liberals and 8 Socialist-Radi- 

 cals; but to these must be added the number of senators returned by the Provincial 

 Councils 16 Catholics, 7 Liberals and 4 Socialists. There was no sign of any reap- 

 pearance of the educational test in the programme of the new government under the 

 leadership of Baron Ch. de Broqueville, who succeeded M. Schollaert. Their policy 

 seemed to be to improve the professional schools, to increase the attendances, and to 

 prolong school-days by raising the age for child labour to 14 or 15. 



Education is of course not compulsory by law in Belgium. The last census returns 

 gave the number of illiterates over the age of eight as 1,049,400, or rather more than 19 

 per cent. The number of children in primary schools on December 31, 1911 was 

 J^STjOSSJ i n normal schools 5,373. The attendance at the universities during the 

 academic year 1910-11 was: Liege 2,790; Louvain 2,630; Brussels 1,318; Ghent 1,197. 



Social Legislation. Some further social legislation has been passed, always in the 

 guarantor could alone assure;" and in these circumstances it would be necessary to prevent 

 the occupation of Belgian territory by any belligerent by forces which were exclusively 

 Belgian. The Times correspondent, undoubtedly reflecting the view of the British War 

 Office, welcomed this declaration as pointing at length to a realisation by Belgium that her 

 weakness might prove a danger both to herself and to others. He took the opportunity to 

 repudiate, on behalf of Great Britain, the existence of designs, attributed to her in some 

 Catholic quarters in Belgium, for seizing Antwerp and invading the country if war with 

 Germany should occur. England would not consider that Belgium had done her duty 

 were she to remain indifferent to the passage of a foreign continental army across the 

 Ardennes, but her hope was that Belgium would take her own steps to make such a proceed- 

 ing too dangerous. This article was approvingly commented on in the Belgian press. On 

 December 5th M. de Broqueville announced that he would prepare a new army scheme, 

 instituting general service, with one-year volunteering,, and assuring the complete defence 

 of the fortified positions of the country by a first line army of 150,000 men, to be in- 

 creased to 330,000 in war time with a yearly contingent of 33,000 men instead of 19,000 

 as now. The Government hoped to apply the new reform to the contingent ofi9i'3. (Ed.) 



