Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/183

 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. 1 47

. 4. The Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs. — Dr. Johann Paul von Falkenstein, appointed March 1855.

5. The Ministry of Finance. — Freiherr Richard von Friesen, appointed November 1858.

Church and Education.

Although the royal family profess the Roman Catholic religion, the vast majority of the inhabitants are Protestants. At the census of December 3, 1867, the population of Saxony was composed of 2,361,861 Lutherans; 5,5C6 Calvinists; 458 members of the English Episcopal Church; 51,478 Roman Catholics; 1,649 DeutscK- Katholiken, or German Catholics; 413 members of the Greek Church; and 2,103 Jews. There are very nearly 1,400 Protestant churches in the kingdom. The clergy are chiefly paid out of local rates and from endowments, the budget contribution of the State to the de- partment of ecclesiastical affairs amounting to but 85,593 thaler, or about 12,830/., chiefly spent in administrative salaries. Thegovern T ment of the Protestant Church is entrusted tc the Landes-Consis- torium, or National Consistory, presided over by the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs ; while the Roman Catholic congregations are under the supervision of a Papal delegate. Public education has reached the highest point in Saxony, every child, without exception^ partaking of its benefits. By the law of June 6, 1835, attendance at school, or under properly qualified teachers, is made compulsory, for Roman Catholics as well as Protestants. On the average, 95 of every 100 children capable of instruction are in attendance at school;

Revenue and Expenditure.

The budget of Saxony was formerly voted for triennial periods, but more recently, annually. The actual expenditure — the income was larger — amounted, during the period

1849 to 1851 to 7,600.669 thaler, or £1.140.100 annually.

1852 „ 1854 „ 8,281,728 „ or 1.242.254

1855 „ 1857 „ 9,040,902 „ or 1,356,140 ,

1858 „ 1860 „ 9,365.243 „ or 1,404,786, '

1861 „ 1863 „ 12.356,352 „ or 1,853,452

1864 „ 1866 „ 13,658,984 „ or 2,148,848

Rather more than one-half of the public revenue is derived from taxes chiefly indirect, and the rest from state railways, canals, and telegraphs, together with the income of the formerly royal domains.

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