,U'M. 



Area and Population. The area of lU-ium is 



.J aquarv mile* un Dec. 81, 



189S, vat estimated at 6.410,788. composed of 



;,--.; . ....:.; :;:.::;?. :: .a.,-. The number 

 of marriaM in 1M95 was 40.71.': of l.,rti, 



of deaths, 1*5,148; cxcww of i..r 

 The population of liniflMls. with Mjl.url.s. a i the 

 .. sJW i M I1&86I Antwerp had vs-.-.- 



.. 



,; .-..; . . ., , v r,7.:l4 inhabiUnU, 

 There are 48U puMie prmia: 



A nh i-rj.iM pu- 



; adult *-h.M.K will ipils. 



Bvvrv commune i- re.iuirvd ! maintain at least 

 one primary school. The provincial ami national 

 government* rout MI).\. I.H..M*. The tot 



i in 1884 was 80,822,888 francs. 

 About -J7 |r (t " ! - (>f t! "' i'"!" 11 """" Vrr h'ftecn 

 JMUI of aft oould not read nor writ out 



of 68.1i:i young men called out in iv.ui f..r military 

 than a rudimentary edu- 

 cation. :U.141 ..:,!. i M..T.-IV r.-a-l and write.' 

 could only read, 7,129 could neither read nor write, 

 and of 648 no returns were gi\ 



Finance*. Tin- revised l.u.l-.-t for 1807 makes 

 the ordinary revenue 880.'.* .'::.! 7^ Iran.-, of this 

 aum 25,276,000 francs are derived frm taxes on 

 property. 19,846.000 fran.-s from personal taxes, 

 <, 270.000 francs fr-m trade licenses, 400,000 I 

 from mines, 86,116,632 francs from cuM.mis duties. 

 58,420.297 frai .-seise. 20,475,000 fran. > 



from succession duties, 19,850,000 francs from 

 istratton taxes, 6,500,000 francs from >tam]>s. Y 

 000 francs from various indirect taxes, 1,579,000 

 franc? from canal tolls, 154,000,000 francs from 

 ails, 6,730,000 francs from tele-: MI -h-. 12.649,- 

 500 francs from the post office, 1.43.J.OOO francs from 

 pilotage dues, 8,178,500 francs from domains and 

 forests, 9,358,900 francs from funds and securities. 

 the national bank, etc., and -|.M;M.:;J! francs from 

 tal ordinary expenditure was 

 .atad at 886,295,842 francs, of which 118,- 

 659.819 francs are for interest and sinking fund of 

 the debt, 4,865.200 francs for the civil list and 

 dotation*. 21,594,240 francs for the Ministry of 

 Justice. 2.806,014 francs for the Mini-try of For- 

 eign Affairs, 2> .tncs for the Ministry of 



the Interior and I'uMie InMnirti.ui. 88,171,149 

 franc* f--r the Mini-try of Agriculture and Public 

 Works, 116,438,585 francs for the Ministry of Rail- 

 roads, Pouts, and Telegraphs, 1 francs for 



y ..f War. 19,069,415 francs for the Min- 

 istry of Finance, 1.926.000 francs for the gendar- 

 merie, and 8,095,060 francs for the Ministry of In- 

 dustry and Labor. 



The ordinary revenue for 1894 was 862,600,000 

 franca, and the extraordinary revenue 42,589,000 

 francs ; total, 405,185,000 francs. The ordinary ex- 

 penditure in that vear was 853.340,000 francs,' and 

 the special expenditure 49,219,000 francs, making a 

 total of 408.550,000 francs. The revenue , 

 provincial administrations in 1894 amounted to 

 15,225,500 francs, and their expenses to 11.'". 

 franca, The revenue of the communes frm ordi- 

 nary sources amounts to about 118,000,000 fr.> 

 year, besides which 60.000,000 francs or m<.r 

 expended for extraordinary purposes. 



The public debt was raised almost entirely for 

 railroads and other tttafnl aod reproductive public 

 works. The capital amount in 1895 was 2,24f> 

 647 francs, of which 2^06,407,015 francs pay 3 per 

 cent, interest, 219,659.682 francs 2* per cent., and 

 20.000,000 francs arc redeemable treasury I MM. 



The Amy. The Belgian defenses consist of the 

 central arsenal of Antwerp, with the fortifn-d towns 

 of Dendermondand Diest.the f .rtit '-I-.n-. 



Tournai. and Yores, guarding the French frontier. 

 and those at Liege, Buy, and Xamur, with those of 



henie of ISST for the further fortification of 

 the line ..f the uMe-lio.lied I 1 ,. 



on reaching tl, nineteen is lial.le t< 'con- 



scription, out Mio>titutioii ix permitted. The an- 

 nual recruit is al.-ut i:;.:;oo men. The period of 

 service is eight years, though not more than 

 three years of act ua uh the colors a 



guireO. The ti ' the army on the ; 



M : 18,165 men. 



Of the total. 1.SI-J3 ollicel> Ulxi 



the infantr\. :17'.' otlu-cr- :uen in th 



airy, 467 officers and v,'l" men in the artili- 

 officers and l."::J men in theen-i: 

 and 'J..VJ-J men in the u'endannerie. ami "> ss ..Ilicers 

 and 'J.-'!07 men attached to the general -talT. admin- 

 i-tra 1 ho,, I. and other e>taMi>h- 



ineiit>. The artillery is armed \\iih 'Jim funs, in 

 u.ir lime with V 00 hoi>es f,,|. the 



army and \.t\:U\ for the gendarmerie. Th, 

 traogthof the army i> :!.:(>:> .,llicer> and 1'. 

 men. with 1 J.nitO hoi>es. In addition there is the 

 Civic (iuard or^ani/.cd. in the L.UH-. numl > 

 al.out .|:i,(MM) in. 



( oiiuiicrcc and In.liistr>. M.,>1 of the land of 

 un is di\idcd into Mnall parcel^, which aie 

 highly cultivated by farmers or ly t : 



rtion of cultivators owning their land is in- 



:ni:. <>f the total area of tfie kingdom, 67 DOf 

 cent, is under cultivation and 17 per cent, is : 

 The agricultural class f,,|-|iis aloir nt. of 



the total population. \Vln-at. and the 



snu'ar licet are the principal crops. 'I 



1 to the amount of ."i.HUJ.OOO kilo^ramn 

 1895. The raw sugar produced in ls.i5 amounted 



-.'.178,000 kilogrammes; refined ragar,65,< 

 000 kilogrammes. The distilleries produce.! 

 :UO ht-ct.. litres of j. roof spirit. There \\.-re i: 

 |>crsons employed in the coal mines in is!>r>. The 

 number of women working underground decreased 

 from 2,172 in 1893 to 1,6'JM in isr>. Th. produc- 

 tion of coal in 189.~> 1.000 tons. \ali, 

 193,357,000 francs. The iron mines pr. 

 637 tons of ore, and 1,942,900 tons of iron ore 

 imported, mostly from Luxemburg. The produc- 

 tion of pig iron was829,2:il tons, \alued at 4". 

 000 francs; of manufactured iron. -1 l."i.S!M 

 valued at .V>.7;MMXX) francs; of steel in- 

 ton-, valued at 31,018,000 francs; of steel rail>. etc., 

 367,918 tons, valued at 42,419,000 francs. Th. /,, 

 product was 38,496,000 francs in value; lead, 4. 

 000 francs; silver, 3,430,000 francs. 



The value of imports in the general commei 

 1895 was 2,904,948,026 francs, of which 1,897,298,169 

 francs constituted the ocean trade and l.:.n;.i;:, i.v',7 



I the railroad and river trallic. The general 

 exports amounted to 2,424.."ir,<i..r.'. fran.--. of which 

 1.1 M.I. ".7.409 franco represent goods shipped from 

 the ports and 1,450,7<>:>."S4 francs the amount sent 

 by land and river. Tin- total value of the imports 



me-tic consumption was 1,680,400,000 franc- : 

 of the domestic expo- i- K),(KX) francs ; of the 



transit trade. 1.219,400,000 franc-. The special im- 

 ports of cereals were 268,292,000 francs in value ; 



. xtile materials, 155,543,000 francs; drug 

 115,105,000 francs; resins and guniv 

 457.000 fran.-s; timber, 66,411.000 francs; *< 

 cotton, and silk fl ;.M.V.I.(MHI f: 



59.462,000 francs: mineral substances, 59,456 

 francs; In T.OOO francs; coffee. r,:,.l TJo'io 



fram-s ; metal-. 50,357,000 francs ; animal products, 



-,|>(K) frai.'-s; live animal- '0 francs; 



meat, 32.833,000 "i franc-: 



coal and coke. :!0.'.>fi::.000 francs: linen and w 

 yarns. 00 franc-; fertilisers, 20,61. 



francs: machinerv. 1 francs; butter. IV 



868,000 francs; flour, 18,785.000 franc-; tohac,,,, 

 12,090,000 francs. 'I ..d exports of linen, 



