The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1912. THE BELGIAN ELECTIONS

New Zealand Tablet, 13 June 1912, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1912. THE BELGIAN ELECTIONS

»E shall probably have something further to say regarding the Belgian . elections when full particulars are to hand, but ' from the brief cables appearing in our dailies two facts are already apparent : First, that those political prophets were absolutely right who have been for some time past predicting that the present contest would be the keenest and fiercest fight ever made against the Catholic Party since 1884 ; and second, that the Catholics, to the surprise and confusion of their opponents, -have scored a magnificent victory. In the last Parliament the Catholic majority over all other parties was 6 ; in the Parliament before that it was 8; in the coming Parliament, according to Wednesday’s cables, it will be 16. The measure of the Catholic victory is the measure of the Socialist disappointment ; and this has found expression in the disgraceful rioting and violence to which they have resorted. At Brussels and Ghent, we learn, the windows of the Catholic clubs . were wrecked ; rioters at Liege set fire to two churches ; many persons were injured at Venders and Charleroi; elsewhere the Socialists de-

railed the trams; while crowds at Brussels threatened the Catholic establishments, , and the gendarmes repeatedly had to charge. The latest cable on the subject runs: 'The riots at Liege continue.' Evidently the Socialists take their beating badly.

• In the present contest the Liberals and Socialists marched shoulder to shoulder to attack the Catholic position; and never before had the ' Cartel' —as the union was called been so confident of victory. Some short time ago there were evidences of division in the Catholic ranks, chiefly arising out of divergences of view in regard to the Military Law, and this, -of course, greatly heightened the hopes of the Socialists. ' The de Broqueville Ministry,' wrote one of the Socialist deputies boastfully in Le Feuple, 'will crumble at the first onset.': , The situation was undoubtedly critical. The defeat of the Catholics meant for Belgium a leap into the abyss of Socialism Socialism of the Continental type, for the LiberalSocialist bloc had avowed its determination to follow the path traced by France and Portugal if it was successful at the polls. As is generally known, under the Belgian law only half the number of members of Parliament come out for re-election every two years, so that in ordinary circumstances Belgians never have a general- election, in the full meaning of the word. Some time ago, however, for special constitutional reasons which need not be detailed, the Ministry determined on an appeal to the whole body of electors; and in June of last year they obtained the Royal assent for a dissolution and a general election, so that thejiresent contest covered all the constituencies in the country. While the coalition party were busy circulating the names of their future ministers and making open preparations for the junketings which were to follow their apparently assured victory, the Catholics were cementing their forces and closing up their ranks; and now that the time has come, in place of .' crumbling at the first onset,' they have succeeded in more than doubling their majority and in administering to the noisy and over-confident bloc a, crushing defeat. *

Electors often do strange things; but in view of the record of the Catholic government for the last twentyeight years it would have been more than ordinarily remarkable if level-headed Belgians had made any other choice than that indicated in the cables. We have often referred in detail to the long list of democratic and humanitarian ■ measures which have marked the career of the Catholic Party, and which have won for Belgium the reputation of being one of the bestgoverned and most progressive countries in the world. For the present we content ourselves with mentioning a single illustration—taken from the department of finance —of the exceptional efficiency of the Catholic administration. Some few months ago the Financial Statement for 1912 was published; and M. Hoyois, the author of the Budget, furnished some figures which supply an eloquent contrast between Catholic and Liberal finance. Under the Liberals an annual deficit Jiad become chronicfrom 3,000,000 francs in 1879 it rose regularly until it reached 16,000,000 in 1884, and with it the public debt and the taxes also increased. With the advent of the Catholic government a surplus has been an annual eventbetween 1901 and 1910 it has amounted to 60,000,000, no new taxes have been created but many old ones have been reduced or suppressed, nearly 500,000,000 have been spent on public works during the last fifteen years, and the commercial and agricultural wealth of the country has been enormously increased. And great as has been the work of the Catholic Party in the past it is only an instalment of that which it is yet capable of performing. Owing to the Catholic leaders not being entirely at one on the question of the suffrage, the Opposition some short time ago taunted the Party with having no programme. To which M. Helleput, the Minister of War, in a speech at Antwerp the other day, replied: * No programme! When the last working-man will live in his own house, when the last toiler in the fields will "have his own bit

of land; when the last woman will quit the factory and become again the angel guardian of her children and her home; when everyone shall receive fair wages and a more equitable division of the profits when we shall have efficaciously guaranteed everyone against the waste of strength, against sickness, want of work, helplessness and old age; when the barbarous negroes of the Congo shall have become our brothers, thanks to the apostolate of our missionaries; when Antwerp will have been made the first port of the world; when the poorest father of a family can send his children to the school of his choice; when the Flemings will have their Flemish University, then and only then shall we rest a little bit, but the party will still have work to do. How can it ever fold its arms, especially in presence of that tremendous undertaking that is now palpitating with energy and faithviz., the task of forming and multiplying Christian Working-men's Unions?' That is one of the finest statements of a political programme we have ever seen; and it is democratic and progressive enough to satisfy the most radical. Thanks to the way in which the electors have risen to the occasion, the Catholic Party have again an assured tenure of office; and with ideals such as the foregoing to inspire them, it is easy to forsee that Belgium will continue in the future, as it is to-day, a model of prosperity for the whole world.