BELGIUM 969 



Commerce. The commercial prosperity of Belgium was brilliantly illustrated by the 

 Universal Exhibition held at Brussels in 1910. The following are the most recent trade 

 returns for " special " commerce (exclusive, that is, of :goods received for transit across 

 Belgium). The imports in 1911 reached 169,105,110; and exports, 135,101,700. 

 Trade with Great Britain for the same period showed imports 20,492,016 and exports 

 18,145,553. With the United States the import trade amounted to 9,166,409, and 

 the export to 4,644,740. The transit trade was valued at nearly 92,000,000. The 

 total tonnage of ships arriving at Antwerp in the same year (1911) amounted 1012,625,165. 

 Nevertheless, the exchequer is not in a very flourishing condition. Belgians pay little, 

 it is true, in the way of direct taxation, and even the indirect taxation is not excessive. 

 With the growth of State expenditure, however, the adverse balance increases. It is a 

 long while now since any effort has been made to face the financial position, though this 

 has come to be an imperative duty, as may be seen from the increase in the public debt, 

 which has grown from 56,413,863 in 1880 to 152,238,539 at the end of 1910, a rise of 

 95,824,676, or 169.86 percent. The national tnree per cents have fallen to 79, and it 

 was considered expedient to issue treasury bonds at 4 per cent (and even higher) to the 

 amount of 12,444,850 in 1912 alone. 



For the budget (budget de voies et moyens) of 1913, the revenue was estimated at 

 30,040,626; and the expenditure at 29,386,246. There was also a supplementary 

 budget (budget extraordinaire), amounting to another 570,540. It may be noticed in 

 this connexion that the government is nearly always behind-hand with the budget ; it 

 is seldom voted till the spring or even the summer. Hence, for most ministries, Parlia- 

 ment is driven (as in France) to voting "provisional twelfths," a practice which always 

 restricts its power over the purse. 



Colonial Administration. As regards the management of the Belgian Congo (see 

 below) the annual sum of 132,000 put at King Albert's disposal by the clause inserted 

 in the Treaty of Cession, October 18, 1908, is applied, as agreed upon, to purely colonial 

 purposes. The Minister for the Colonies renders an account to the Chambers annually. 

 Some alterations were made in the Colonial Law of October 18, 1908, on March 29, 1911, 

 and again on March 5 and May 13, 1912, but it remains substantially the same. No 

 powers may be delegated to any chartered company or private committee. Speaking 

 generally, the trend of Belgian colonial policy is towards free trade (liberte commercial), 

 towards abolishing forced labour, and taking moral and physical care of the natives. 

 Different parts of the Domaine which used to lie under a special monopoly (exploitations 

 en regie) have one by one been thrown open to free competition. The Colonial Council 

 has proved equal to its task, in the examination of supplementary legislation for the 

 Belgian Congo within the cognizance of the King (Loi coloniale, Arts. 7 and 24). 



Obituary. MARIE, COUNTESS OF FLANDERS (b. 1845), mother of the King of the Belgians, 

 died November 26, 1912; she was the daughter of Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, 

 and married the 3rd son of Leopold I in 1867. The death of AUGUSTE BEERNAERT (born 

 at Ostend on July 26, 1829) on October 6, 1912, removed a leading figure in Belgium. Orig- 

 inally a lawyer, he entered politics arid in 1873 first became a minister, being subsequently 

 premier for ten years (1884-94); he was head of a Catholic cabinet at the time of the^Revision 

 of the Constitution (1892-93). He was a moderate and cautious statesman. He had taken 

 a prominent part, of late, in the pacifist movement, presiding over the second Peace con- 

 ference at the Hague in 1907, and being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (with M. d'Estour- 

 nelles de Constant) in 1909. Among others the death may also be noted of the well-known 

 geologist, EDOUARD FRANCOIS DUPONT (b. 1841; see E. B. xix, 2783), on March 31, 1911. 

 See generally, H. Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique (4 vols., 1902 onwards); Annuaire statistique 

 de la Belgique et du Congo beige pour 1911 (Brussels, 1912); P. Errera, Traite de Droit public 

 beige (Paris, 1908), and Das Staatsrecht des Konigreichs Belgien (Tubingen, 1909); O. Urban, 

 Le Droit constitutional de la Belgique (3 vols., Paris-Liege, 1906-11); J. Barthelemy, 

 L 'Organisation du suffrage et I'Experience beige (Paris, 1912). (PAUL ERRERA.) 



rrtoorf f, i;'r.'-;-rii '.-:. '.--j ^ni.to ^^0 .-LU i',<j'is Uiwrii .' oJiivi'v^j&^Cfi Sr"' 1 '--* 11 -' 1 -' >'' i 

 ,:.,;{ ; The Belgian Congo. 1 



Since the transfer of the Congo Free State to Belgium sincere efforts have been 

 made by the Belgian government to effect reforms, under the direction of M. Renkin, 



1 See E. B. vi, 922 et seg. -. -. , {, 



