Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/726

 370

AUSTRIA

ll. Provincial Government.

The Provincial Diets are competent to legislate in all matters not expressly reserved for the Reichsrath. They have control over local representative bodies, and the regulation of local affairs affecting taxation, the cultivation of the son, educational, ecclesiastical, and charitable institutions and public works. In Tyrol and Yorarlberg they have the regulation of the defence of the province, and consent to the employment of the local militia (Landeschiitzen) in another province of the Monarchy. Each Provincial Diet consists of one assembly, composed (1) of the archbishop and bishops of the Roman Catholic and Oriental Greek Churches ; (2) the rectors of Universities ; (3) the representa^ tives of great estates, elected by all landowners paying land taxes of not less than 50, 100, 200, or 250 florins, according to the provinces in which their estates are situated ; (4) the representatives of towns, elected by those citizens who possess municipal rights or pay a certain amount of direct taxation ; (5) the representatives of boards of commerce or trade guilds, chosen by the respective members ; (6) representatives of the rural communes, elected by deputies called ' Wahlmanner, ' returned by all inhabitants who pay a small amount (four florins) of direct taxation.

The strength of the seventeen separate Diets is shown in the following table : —

No. of

No. of

Members

Members

LoWer Austria

. 78

Tyrol.

. 68

Upper Austria

. 50

Vorarlberg.

. 21

Salzburg

. 26

Bohemia.

. 242

Steiermark (Styria)

63

Moravia

. 100

Carinthia

. 37

Silesia

. 31

Catniola

. 37

Galicia

. 154

Trieste and district

. 54

Bukowina.

. 31

Gorz and Gradiska

. 22

Dalmatia.

. 43

Istria ....

. 33

The deputies to the Provincial Diets are elected for six years. The Diets are summoned annually.

The Provincial Council is an executive body composed of the president of the Diet (Landniarschall) and other members elected.

III. Local Government.

Each commune has a council to deliberate and decide, and a committee to administer all its affairs. The members of the council are elected for three (in Galicia for six) years. All who have a vote are eligible if of age. In the towns with special statutes a corporation takes the place of the communal committee.

District representative bodies are, in Styria (Steiermark), Bohemia, and Galicia, interposed between the communal bodies and Provincial Diets. They deliberate and decide on all affairs affecting the interests of the district (Bezirk). They consist of the representatives (1) of great estates, (2) of the most highly taxed industries and trades, (3) of the towns and markets, (4) of the rural communes (Landgemeinden). Members are elected for three years, in Galicia for six. A committee of this body (called the Bezirksausschuss, in Galicia Bezirksrath) administers the affairs of the district.