76 



BELGIUM. 



000 francs; post office, 11,095,820 francs; trade 

 license-, i ;.M 10.000 francs; stamps, 0,050,000 

 francs: telegraphs. 5.850,000 francs; various 

 indirect taxes, :..M:;.MM) francs. The ordinary 

 iditure for ls4 is estimated at 346,618,972 

 franc< distributed as follows: Interest and 

 ain..rti'/.ation of the public debt, 107,613,522 

 francs: .Ministry of Railroads. Posts, and Tele- 



;s 106,411,772 francs: Ministry of War, 

 471174.VJ francs; .Ministry of the Interior and 

 Public Instruction, 23,286,017 francs; Ministry 

 of Justice, 18,921.847 francs : Ministry of Public 

 Works. 17.5i:U<>s francs; Ministry of Finance, 

 1 :,..V,i;. nit.-) francs: civil list and dotations, 4, 786,- 

 IGOframs; grndanm-ry, 4,867,600 francs ; Min- 

 Iftteyoi Foreign Affaire, 3,515,838 francs; repay- 

 ments l.-V^UKX) francs. The public debt in 1893 

 amounted to 2,147,460.574 francs; the funded 

 del.t to 2,126,050,939 francs, of which 1,297,843,- 

 707 francs pay 3 per cent., 608,247,600 francs 

 3 per cent., and the share of Belgium in the old 

 Netherlands debt, amounting to 219,959,632 

 francs, pays 2 per cent. 



Tin- Army. The peace effective of the army 

 for is'.':! was 3,431 officers and 47,642 men, with 

 10,712 horses. The strength of the infantry was 

 1,745 officers and 28,810 men; cavalry, 304 offi- 

 cers and 5,744 men ; artillery, 534 officers and 

 ?.!M)7 men; train, 29 officers and 402 men; en- 

 iriiifiTs. 14(5 office : and 1,434 men ; gendarmery, 

 ill nilic.-rs and 2,476 men; administrative serv- 

 ices, 262 officers and 869 men ; sanitary service, 

 187 officers : veterinary service, 35 officers; gen- 

 eral staff, 79 officers ; staff of districts and forti- 

 fied places. 3!) officers. The kingdom is divided 

 into two military districts, one embracing the 

 provinces of Anvers and East and West Flan- 



.vith the central arsenal of Antwerp and the 

 fortified towns of Dendermonde and Diest, and 

 the other the rest of the country, including 

 Li.'-e. Huy, Namur, and the other strong places 

 m the Meuse, and the fortifications on the 

 I'Vnch frontier at Mons, Tournai, and Ypres. 

 The war strength of the army is 154,780 men, 

 with 14.000 horses and 240 guns. 



rommerce and Production. The land is 

 owned in small plots, and the subdivision is con- 

 tinually going on. In 1880 there were 910,396 

 owners, two thirds of whom held less than 2| 

 Two thirds of the surface of the king- 

 dom is kept in a high state of cultivation, pro- 

 ducing cereals, leguminous plants, the sugar 

 -. Max. grasses, tobacco, ornamental 

 plants, etc. There isan agricultural commission 

 in every province, an<l the Ministry of Agricul- 

 ture has divisions to deal with planting, irriga- 

 tion, culture, veterinary science, agricultural 

 laboratories, ;m d forestry. About one sixth of 

 the area of Belgium is devoted to forests, which 

 economically exploited, yielding in 1890 a 



rcvem f J.s:50.ssi f r , m( .s. The Ministry of 



Public Works has a depart ment for the adminis- 

 tration of industry. The production of coal in 

 "no tons, valued at 201,288,000 

 francs: of pig iron. 7.~i:{.26H.oo() tons, value 38,- 

 710,000 francs; "f manufactured iron, 479,008,000 

 tons value i;t.s7!).oiio franc-; of steel ingots 

 260.037.HOO tons, value ;>:{.'.2 77.000 francs- of 

 steel rails. 2os.2si.ooo tons, v ilm- 27.601.000 

 francs; valiu of /inc. M.rrfjs.ooo francs; of lead 

 2,690,000 francs; of silver, 4,380,000 francs 



The production of raw sugar was 141,371,540 

 kilogrammes; of refined. 47, 119,430 kilogrammes. 



The general commerce in 1892 amounted to 

 2,811,400,000 francs for imports and 2,644,300,000 

 francs for exports. Of the imports, 1,312.900,000 

 francs arrived by sea, and of the exports, 1,115,- 

 200,000 francs were shipped by sea. The im- 

 ports for home consumption amounted to 

 1,536,500,000 francs, the domestic exports to 

 1,369,400,000 francs. The values of the princi- 

 pal groups of imports for home consumption 

 were as follow: Grain and flour, 274,553,000 

 francs : raw textile materials, 158,218,000 francs ; 

 vegetable products, 93,812,000 francs ; chemicals 

 and drugs, 87,424,000 francs ; mineral substances, 

 70,350,000 francs; gums and resins, 67,879,000 

 francs ; manufactured textiles, 60,097,000 francs ; 

 timber, 58,764,000 francs ; hides and skins, 58,- 

 485,000 francs ; coffee, 56,819,000 francs ; animal 

 products, 41,912,000 francs; metals, 40,219,000 

 francs ; live animals, 36,636,000 francs ; meat, 

 34,394,000 francs; yarns, 27,245,000 francs; 

 wine, 27,072,000 francs ; coal, 26,468,000 francs. 

 The values exported of the principal articles of 

 domestic produce or manufacture were : Cereals 

 and flour, 121,312,000 francs ; woolen and linen 

 yarns, 113,088,000 francs; machinery, 96,339,000 

 francs ; coal and coke. 93,330,000 francs ; raw 

 textile materials, 86,866,000 francs; manufac- 

 tured textiles, 66,278,000 francs; hides and 

 leather, 58,834,000 francs; iron, 53,760,000 

 francs; meat, 49,827,000 francs: sugar, 48,- 

 745,000 francs; chemical products, 48,615,000 

 francs ; glass, 44,274,000 francs ; vegetable sub- 

 stances, 36,481,000 francs ; mineral substances, 

 31,472,000 francs; steel, 25.945,000 francs; live 

 animals, 24,715,000 francs; arms, 13,948.000 

 francs. The value, in francs, of the trade with 

 each of the principal countries is given in this 

 table : 



Navigation. During 1892 there were 7.063 

 vessels, of 5,782,157 tons, entered at Belgian 

 ports, of which 3,838, of 2,201,292 tons, arrived 

 from England, and 358, of 717,831 tons, from 

 the United States. The number cleared was 

 7,085, of 5,802,111 tons ; 4,770 of them, of 3.381,- 

 865 tons, for English, and 259, of 574,030 tons, 

 for United States ports. The merchant navy 

 in 1892 consisted of 6 sailing vessels, of 11,039 

 tons, and 47 steamers, of 69,356 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 railroads open to traffic in 1893 had a total 

 length of 2,810 miles, of which 2,018 miles were 

 state lines and 792 miles were managed by com- 

 panies. The state lines in 1891 took in 140,- 

 652.251 francs, and the companies' lines 39,662,- 

 190 francs, while the expenses were 82,635,967 

 francs for the state and 20,428,896 francs for the 

 companies. The capital invested by the state 

 was 1,359,000,000 francs. 



The post office during 1892 carried 99,295,241 



