CHAPTER XIX 



STATE AID 



There are methods of State aid so direclly 

 beneficial to the country that they deserve 

 serious attention. Such, for instance, as the 

 development of railways, which can only be 

 tardily advanced by private enterprise, yet confers 

 a boon on every one. Seebohm Rowntree, in his 

 Land and Labour, gives remarkable figures on 

 the development of Belgium by light agricultural 

 railways, fostered by the Government. Belgium 

 has more ordinary railways, in proportion, than 

 any country, and in light railways her prepon- 

 derance is startling. She has, for every hundred 

 square miles, 22-J miles of line, against one-third 

 of a mile in Great Britain, and it may safely be 

 said that she owes her agricultural development 

 to their aid. 



If the Belgians require a light line, they com- 

 municate with a National Railway Society; 

 agreeing to pay for an inquiry. This society 

 ascertains the density of the population, the 

 probable amount of traffic, and sends an engineer 



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