INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
671
Shipping and Navigation.
Merchant marine, December 31 : —
1907 1 1908 1909 I 1910 1 1911
No.
Tons j No. Tons ] No.j Tons No.
Tons No.
Tons
Sailing Vessels Steamers
3 74
964 1 4 119,223 84
3,038 149,287
4 1 3,183 5 3,402 8
97 '184,261 99 187,730 93
i 1
5,905 160,515
Total
77
120,187 , 88
152,325 '101 187,444 104 jl91,132 101
166,420
The navigation at Belgian ports is shown as follows
Vessels
1907
1908
1909
No.
Tons
No. Tons No. Tons
1910
1911
No.
Tons No. ' Tons
» COOCIO-
Entered '10,800 13,465,447 10,256 13,409,331 10,539 14,283,345 10,943 15,101.171 ll,10'o 15,907,359 Cleared |10,325{l3,493,769|lO,268 13,441,09310,519, 14, 274,01440,929;i5,074,06l{ll,122,15,896,915
Total . '20,631, 26,959,216'20,524'26,850,424 21,058
2S,557,359;21,872!30,175,232'22,228;31,804,274
The vessels entered and cleared in 1911 were as follows :-
Nationality
Entered
Cleared
No.
Tonnage
No.
1,959 5,155 1,728
Tonnage
Belgian British German
1,959 5,160 1,725
2,074,930 7,024,959 4,042,578
2,060,649 6,991,793
4,048,815
Internal Communications.
The total length of the roads in Belgium (1911) was as follows: — State roads, 5,072 miles ; provincial roads, 987 miles ; conceded roads, 140 miles; by-roads, 19,347 miles ; total, 25,446 miles. The majority of the roads are paved with stone.
The total length of n ivigable waterways (rivers and canals) in 1911 was 1,238 miles.
The length of railways (1911) :— State lines, 2,697 miles ; private lines, 218 miles; light railways, 2,420 miles; total, 5,335 miles. Under con- struction, 464 miles.
Passengers conveyed by State railways in 1911, 180,840,189, by com- panies 18,049,557. Gross receipts 1911 for the State 313,872,749 francs; for companies 33,909,926 francs ; expenses for the State 210,645,039 francs ; for the companies 14,151,463 francs. The first cost of State railways to end of 1911, 2,824,458,916 francs; net receipts 2,854,876,425 francs; financial charges 2,790,909,215 francs.
The work of the Post Office in Belgium in four years was as follows : —
1908
1909
Private letters . Official letters . Post- cards Printed matter .
Newspapers
182,546,179 35,194,749 105,056,568 207,562,321 155,721,476
193,620,497 35,473,873 112,601,424 220,865,628 160,521,278
1910
1911
208,696,675 36,091,149 119,736,212 246,988,121 171,964,993
218,176,673 37,392,456 123,255,448 261,797,474 180,198,608
