ore and pig-iron, other raw minerals (excluding rough diamonds), resins and bitumens (including petrol), oleaginous seeds, and timber. About half of the import of coal and nearly the whole import of coke are from Germany, about a quarter of the coal from the United Kingdom, and about an eighth from France. With regard to grain, about 29 per cent. of the wheat comes from Rumania and about 21 per cent. from the Argentine, about 45 per cent. of the rye from Germany, about 25 per cent. of the oats from the United States, and about 42 per cent. of the maize from the Argentine. A large proportion of the import of barley and two-thirds of the import of rice come from India. Of other food-stuffs, 80 per cent. of the butter and almost all the cheese come from Holland, which, with the United Kingdom, supplies the import of fish (about 23,000 tons annually). Salt is imported from France and Germany. Raw hides come largely from the Argentine, and also from Great Britain, Australia, Uruguay, France, Germany, and British India. Nearly a third of the import of raw cotton is from the United States, and about a fifth from British India; about 8,200 metric tons (one-seventeenth of the total) were imported from the United Kingdom in 1912. Raw flax comes chiefly from Russia, Holland, and France; raw wool from Australia, the United Kingdom, France, and the Argentine. Half of the import of iron ore and pig-iron comes from Germany and Luxemburg, and the remainder chiefly from France and the United Kingdom; bitumens chiefly from the United Kingdom.

The import of horses is almost entirely from the United Kingdom; cattle come from Holland, the United States, and South America; sheep chiefly from the Argentine.

Of manufactured goods there is a large import of

wine (over 7,036,458 imperial gallons, valued at £1,436,640 in 1912), which comes chiefly from France, Germany, Spain, and Portugal. A large quantity of unbottled beer comes from the United Kingdom, and much bottled beer from Germany and Holland. The import of spirits is chiefly from Holland. Germany supplies an overwhelming proportion of the import of chemical products, almost the entire import of artificial indigo, and a large proportion of other dyes. Manufactures of linen, cotton, and wool come chiefly from the United Kingdom; haberdashery from Germany; paper from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Holland; earthenware from Germany; bricks from Germany and the United Kingdom. Machinery comes from Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom; motors are chiefly American and British; musical and scientific instruments are largely British.

Belgian imports exceed the exports by very considerable amounts. In 1912 the totals of imports and exports were:

Imports.
Exports.

General.
£295,812,000

255,552,000

Special.

£198,320,000

158,060,000

The excess of imports over exports is paid for by the interest on the very large amount of foreign investments held in Belgium.

(c) Customs and Tariffs

There is no tariff upon exports or upon goods in transit. The Belgian import tariff is partly for revenue and partly for protective purposes. The total revenue obtained is small and represents about 1 per cent. of the total value of imports for consumption in Belgium. A large number of articles of food are admitted free, including most cereals. But Belgian

agriculture is protected by a tax of about 1 francs per cwt. upon imported oats, and by taxes upon manufactured cereals-about 2 francs per cwt. on oatmeal, about 75 centimes per cwt. on malt, and about 2 francs per cwt. upon macaroni, &c. There are also protective duties of from 3 to 5 centimes per kilogram (2.204 lb.) on the weight of imported live cattle and from 1 to 2 francs per head upon imported live sheep; and a tax varying from 7 to 15 francs per cwt. upon dead meat, including game and poultry. Bacon and live game and poultry, however, are admitted free. The import of cows and steers under four years of age is prohibited. The duties on sugar and molasses vary from 5 to 10 francs per cwt. and there are special countervailing duties on bounty-fed sugar.

The tariff on manufactured goods varies from 10 to 15 per cent. ad valorem, but manufactured products required for use in industries are admitted at 5 per cent. ad valorem. Certain Belgian industries are specially protected, e.g. by duties of 28s. per cwt. upon some kinds of mercerized cotton yarns and 50s. per cwt. upon certain cotton tissues made of dyed yarn; of £7 per cwt. upon silk yarns and 90s. per cwt. upon yarns of artificial silk; of 7s. per cwt. upon wallpaper and 3s. per cwt. upon paper for newspapers; and of 24s. per cwt. upon certain varieties of soap.

In general the Belgian tariff is designed to protect agriculture rather than industry. It is sometimes said, indeed, that Belgium is a country with agricultural protection and industrial free trade. The remark is not strictly applicable to a tariff which imposes duties of from 10 to 15 per cent. upon furniture, wearing apparel, musical instruments, hardware, small wares ('mercerie '), leather goods and manufactured hides and skins, rubber beltings, earthenware, glassware, carriages, bicycles, &c. But the duties are small and

have been devised for the exclusion of unfair competition, especially from Germany, and Belgium has hitherto continued to regard herself as a country with industrial free trade.

Before the war there was considerable controversy in Belgium about the propriety of a protective tariff for agriculture. It was argued that the protection given to agriculture benefited only the comparatively small number of farmers who cultivated, at the least, 8 acres (i. e. just over 15 per cent. of the farming industry), and that the restrictions were positively injurious to the small holders who were buyers of food and whose capital was insufficient to purchase the full-grown cattle which alone are permitted to be imported. The proportionally large amount of customs duty paid on food-stuffs (amounting to £800,000 a year, or a third of the total revenue from customs, in addition to £76,000 from the importation of live animals) is one of the causes of the malnutrition of the Belgian working-classes, and in 1912 the Antwerp Chamber of Commerce protested against the high price of meat and asked for the removal of the import duties.

The average customs payment per head of the population, which in 1870 was 5.61 francs, fell in 1880 to 4.62 francs, but had risen by 1910 to 8.96 francs.

(D) FINANCE

(1) Public Finance

The National Budget has shown a constant increase in recent years. In 1904 the estimated receipts were £21,174,900 and the estimated expenditure was £21,102,270; in 1912 these sums had risen to £28,150,903 and £28,138,181 respectively; in 1913 provision was made for an expenditure of over

£30,000,000 and in 1914 for over £32,000,000, an increase of more than 50 per cent. in the decade 1904-14.

The largest items in the budget for 1912 were those for the public services. The total receipts for railways, post office, telegraphs and telephones amounted to £14,665,629. If we add to the receipts from these services £129,200 from navigable waterways, £82,200 from the steamboat service, £205,800 from domains and forests, £1,059,603 from the National Bank advertisements in the Moniteur and other sources, and £338,332 of repayments, the remainder on the receipt side of the budget, representing the total taxation in 1912, was £11,670,139, or about thirty shillings per head of the population. The largest single item in this sum was the excise (charged on beer, spirits, vinegar, acetic acid, glue, sugar, tobacco, and margarine), viz. £3,245,532, the estimated yield of the customs duties being £2,312,146. A total of £5,906,640 was derived from a variety of direct taxes: property taxes, £1,186,760; personal taxes, £1,057,880; trade licences, £660,000; registration duty, £1,560,000; succession duty, £1,020,000; stamps; £400,000; mines, £22,000. The small remaining sums on the receipt side represented fines and miscellaneous items.

On the expenditure side the largest item, after that debited to the Ministry of Railways, Post Office, Telegraphs, and Telephones (£10,221,345), was a sum of £7,938,477 for the service of the public debt, including interest and sinking fund charges. The Civil List amounted to £219,990. Of the Ministries, the most expensive were War (£2,593,757), Education, Science, and Art (£1,615,771), Justice (£1,218,584), Public Works and Agriculture (£1,177,557), Industry and Labour (£1,064,568), and Finance (£975,436). The Ministry of the Interior cost £303,156, with an addi