Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1054

1002 withdrawal of the French garrison, was annexed to the Kingdom by plébiscite on October 2.

The civil list has been settled at 16,050,000 lire. From this amount the children of the late Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, receive jointly allowance of 400,000 lire; Prince Tomaso, Duke of Genoa, an allowance of 400,000 lire; and Queen Margherita, an allowance of 1,000,000 lire.

The greater part of the private domains of the reigning family were given up to the State in 1848.

The present Constitution of Italy is an expansion of the 'Statuto fondamentale del Regno,' granted on March 4, 1848, by King Charles Albert to his Sardinian subjects. According to this charter, the executive power of the State belongs exclusively to the Sovereign, and is exercised by him through responsible ministers; while the legislative authority rests conjointly in the King and Parliament, the latter consisting of two Chambers—an upper one, the Senate, and a lower one, called the 'Camera de' Deputati.' The Senate is composed of the princes of the royal house who are twenty-one years of age (with the right to vote when twenty-five years of age), and of an unlimited number of members, above forty years old, who are nominated by the King for life; a condition of the nomination being that the person should either fill a high office, or have acquired fame in science, literature, or any other pursuit tending to the benefit of the nation, or, finally, should pay taxes to the annual amount of 3,000 lire, or 120l. On January 1, 1920, there were 368 senators and 9 members of the royal family. The electoral law of December 1920, made the suffrage universal for men and women 21 years of age, and also for men aged less than 21 years who have performed military service during the war. The Electoral Reform Act of 1919 introduced the principle of proportional representation and scrutin de liste. The number of deputies is 508, or 1 to every 71,000 of the population (census 1911). In 1919 the number of enrolled electors was 11,115,441 (34 per 100 inhabitants without distinction of sex or age) inclusive of the electors temporarily disfranchised on account of military service. For electoral purposes the whole of the Kingdom is divided into 508 electoral colleges or districts, and these again into several sections (19,508). A deputy must be thirty years old, and have the requisites demanded by the electoral law. Incapable of being elected are all salaried Government officials, as well as all persons ordained for the priesthood and filling clerical charges, or receiving pay from the State. Officers in the army and navy, ministers, under-secretaries of State, and various other classes of functionaries high in office, may be elected, but their number must never be more than forty, not including the ministers and the under-secretaries of State. All deputies receive 15,000 lire (600l.) annually, and all deputies and senators travel gratis on the railways.

Lower House, elected May, 1921: Constitutionalists, 275; Socialists, 122; Catholics, 107; Communists, 16; Republicans, 7; Germans, 4; and Slavs, 4.

The duration of a Parliament is five years, and it must meet annually; but the King has the power to dissolve the lower House at any time, being bound only to order new elections, and convoke a new meeting within four months. Each of the Chambers has the right of introducing new bills, the same as the Government; but all money bills must originate in the House