A BELGIAN SCANDAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 19

A BELGIAN SCANDAL

BRUSSELS March 5. Princess Louise, daughter of the late King Leopold, declares that if her father disposed of property belonging to Belgium for the benefit of a third party she may not' press her claims. She hopes the Government will inform herself and her two sisters of the property to which the State's right is not established, and to which they, therefore, are entitled to succeed.

M Vandervelde, by way of interpellation in the Chamber of Representatives, stated that it had now been found that King Leopold had invested £2,800,000 in companies that were directed by men of straw, the sum including a million pounds in Congo bonds. The money, which was tainted with blood, ought to revert to Belgium to improve the lot of the negroes who had suffered. The Government admitted that King Leopold had deceived them. The Government, however, would uphold the nation's rights. Other speakers asserted that the sum of £1,200,000 had disappeared from the Congo Treasury, and that books and papers had been destroyed. M.. Do Woeste paid a tribute to the Princess's delicate sense of honour. A resolution from the Left Side of the Chamber was negatived by 70 votes- to 66.

M. De Woeste's motion of confidence in the Government was adopted. March 6. During the debate in the Chamber the Minister of Justice, M. de Lantsheere, stated that the money derived from the royal foundations would be employed for the benefit of the Congo natives, thereby showing the sincerity of Belgium in the matter of reform.