REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE.
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Descriptions of Debt
Nominal Capital
Annual interest
Original
Paid-off
Remaining on 1st June, 18G9
2i% Old Debt . .
3% of 1838 & 1846.
U% 1st series, 1844 ~ 2nd „ 1844 „ 3rd „ 1853 „ 4th „ 1857 and 1860 . . . „ 5th „ 1865 „ 6th „ 1867
Total . .
£
Francs
389,417,631
58,474,800
95,442.832
84,656,000
157,615,300
69,382,000 59,325,000 58,540,000
Francs
169,312,000 42,133,800 39,978.649 17.147,500 16,158,400
3,486,600 612,600
Francs
220,105,631
16.341,000
55.464,182
67.508,500
141,456,900
65,895,400 58,712,400
58,540,000
Francs
5,502.640 490,230
y>0, 140,983 J
972,853,563 38,914,142
288,829,549 684,024,013 : 26,133,853 11,553,182 27,360,960 1 1,041,354
The 'l\% old debt, and the 2nd series of the A\% debt, repre- sent the share which Belgium had to take in the national liabilities of the Netherlands, after separating from that kingdom. Almost the entire remainder of the debt of Belgium was raised for, and devoted to works of public utility, particularly the construction of state rail- ways. There is a sinking fund attached to all descriptions of the debt, with the exception of the 2-|% old debt, the capital of which was reduced, in 1844, to the amount of 169,312,000 francs, from the pro- ceeds of the 1st series of the 4-|% loan. The whole of the 3% debt will become extinguished at the end of 1876. By a law passed on the 12th of June, 1869, the government was authorised to reduce the fixed annual payments out of the sinking fund for the whole of the 41% debt, to a sum representing one-half per cent, of the nominal capital of this debt, in circulation on the 1st of May, 1869. It is calculated that the amount spent on productive public works, rail- ways, roads, and canals, exceeds the sum total of the public debt of Belgium.
Army.
The standing army is formed by conscription, to which every able man who has completed his nineteenth year is liable. Substitution is permitted. The legal period of service is eight years, of which, however, two-thirds are allowed, as a rule, on furlough. According to a law passed on the 5th of April, 1868, the strength of the army is to be of 100,000 men on the war-fouting, and of 40,000 in times of peace. The war- footing is prescribed to be as follows, rank and file:—
