The following table exhibits, for the civil population, the number of births, deaths, and marriages, with the surplus of births, in Austria for 5 years according to the latest official returns:

The rate of illegitimacy varied in 1900 from 41.1 per cent. in Carinthia, 25.3 in Salzburg, 24.0 in Lower Austria, 11.8 in Galicia to 7.2 in Tyrol, and 4.2 cent. in Dalmatia.

The emigration of Austrians through Hamburg, Bremen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Genoa, according to port statistics, the emigration of Austrians and Hungarians according to similar statistics, and the emigration of Austrians and Hungarians to the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina, according to the immigration statistics of these countries, in 5 years were:

1 Exclusive of emigration through the French ports. The want of statistics of emigration through these ports largely accounts for the discrepancies between the numbers of emigrants from Austria-Hungary and of Austro-Hungarian immigrants into various foreign countries.

2 According to United States statistics there were in 1901-02, 171,989, in 1902–03, 206,011, and in 1903-04, 178,316 immigrants from Austria-Hungary.

2 Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná.

III. PRINCIPAL TOWNS.

The following were the populations of the principal towns on December 31, 1900:

In Austria the relation of the State to the religious bodies is regulated by the statutes of December 21, 1867, May 25, 1868, May 7, 1874, and May 20, 1874. In these the leading principle is religious liberty, the independence of the Church as regards the State, saving the rights of the sovereign arising from ecclesiastical dignity. Full liberty of faith and conscience is secured, and the enjoyment of civil and political rights is independent of religious profession. Every religious body legally recognised has the right of ordinary public worship, the management of its own affairs, and the undisturbed possession of its premises, endowments, and funds for the purposes of worship, instruction, or charity. Recognised religious bodies in Austria are:-The Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, GreekOriental, Evangelical (Augsburg or Lutheran, and Helvetian or

Reformed), the Evangelical Brotherhood, the Gregorian-Armenian and the Jewish. The Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs will grant legal recognition to any religious bodies if their doctrine worship, constitution, and designation contain nothing illegal or immoral (Statute of May 20, 1874).

The following table gives the division of the population according to religion on the basis of the census of 1900 for Austria.

The educational organisation of Austria comprises :(1) Elementary schools; (2) Gymnasia and Realschulen; (3) Universities and colleges; (4) Technical high schools; and (5) Schools for special subjects.

The progress of elementary education in Austria between the census of 1880 and that of 1900 is shown in the following statement::

The erection of elementary schools is incumbent on the school districts. Compulsory attendance begins with the completion

of the sixth year, and continues in Austria generally, till the completion of the fourteenth; but in Istria, Galicia, and Dalmatia till the completion of the twelfth (Bukowina, thirteenth) year. Of these schools there are two grades.

In the elementary schools the subjects taught are religion, reading, writing, language (Unterrichts-Sprache), arithmetic with elementary geometry, some branches of natural history and physics, geography, history, drawing, singing, gymnastics; to girls, domestic duties. The cost of erecting and maintaining elementary and burgh schools, and the payment of the teaching staff, are defrayed in different ways in different places; but the expense always falls ultimately on the communes or the land. In only a few special cases are elementary schools supported by the State.

The following figures show the latest statistics of school attendance, and the number of training colleges at the end of two school-years :

1900-1901. 1901-1902.

4,106,027

93

20,457 79,858 3,692,351
20,827 82,099 3,742,486 4,139,529 96

The Gymnasia and Realschulen are schools whose practical purpose consists especially in the preparation they supply for the universities and technical high schools. The curriculum of the former extends over eight years; of the latter, over seven. They are, so far as they are public, maintained by the State, by separate provinces, by the larger communes, or (in the case of confessional schools) by ecclesiastical foundations, &c., eventually with a subvention from the State. Private middle schools are included in the following table; these are under the same regulations as public schools::

In Austria there are eight universities maintained by the State, each comprising four faculties-viz. theology, law, medicine, philosophy. In one (Czernowitz), however, the faculty of medicine is absent. The following statistics are for the summer of 1902, but for Vienna, Prague (German), Innsbruck, and Czernowitz, 1904 :

In addition to the universities there are in Austria 48 theological colleges -viz.: 44 Roman Catholic, 1 Greek Catholic, 1 Armenian Catholic, 1 Greek Oriental, and 1 Protestant, with a total of 1,884 students.

There are eight Government technical high schools for various branches of engineering and technical chemistry, and a high school for agriculture in Vienna. In 1902 the numbers were :

There are besides 4,230 special technical institutes in Austria, training in agriculture, industries of all kinds, art, music, mining, commerce, &c., with 266,071 students.

Included in these (1901-1902) were 240 commercial schools, 1,144 industrial, 172 agricultural and forestry, 6 lower schools of mining, 3 nautical schools, 7 veterinary schools, and 705 music schools.

In 7,820 of the public elementary schools in Austria (1902) the language used was German; in 5,177 Czéch (mainly in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia); and in 5,634 other Slav dialects; 768 Italian, 125 Rumanian, 3 Magyar; and in 273 more than one language. According to official statistics, 89.9 per cent. of the children of school age were attending school in Austria in 1902.

In 1903, 3,149 periodicals of various kinds were published in Austria, 165 being daily papers. Of the whole, 1,931 were in German, 654 in Czech, the rest being in Polish, Slovenian, Ruthenian, Italian, Hebrew, &c.

Justice and Crime.

In Austria the ordinary judicial authorities are:

(1) The Supreme Court of Justice and Court of Cassation (Oberste Gerichts-und Kassationshof) in Vienna. (2) The 9 higher provincial courts (Oberlandesgerichte). (3) The 71 provincial and district courts (Landes- und Kreisgerichte), and, in connection with these, the jury courts (Geschworenengerichte). (4) The 945 county courts (Bezirksgerichte) Of these, the third and fourth groups are courts of first instance; the second group consists of courts of second instance. Courts of first instance act as courts of inquiry and have summary jurisdiction. Courts of second instance are courts of appeal from the lower courts, and have the supervision of the criminal courts in their jurisdiction. The jury courts try certain cases where severe penalties are involved, political offences, and press offences. The county courts exercise jurisdiction in cases of misdemeanour in the counties, and co-operate in preliminary proceedings regarding crime.

There are in all for Austria 71 provincial or district courts and 945 county courts.

There exist also special courts for commercial (3 courts), for industry (15 courts), shipping, revenue, military, and other matters.

In case of conflict between different authorities the Court of the Empire