Congo Boleslan ]] MILITARY SYSTEM ; EDUCATION 57 the war being about 3,750. The period of service is seven years, with five years in the reserve. The men are trained in instruction camps before being drafted to companies. The officers (with 192 non-commissioned officers in 1913) are all Belgians, largely lent from the Belgian army, to which they return in due course. The rank and file and some of the non-commissioned officers are Congolese, and in peace the troops, which are organized as infantry, were scattered throughout the country in platoons of about fifty men. Recently a distinction has been drawn between the soldiers proper, some 12,000 in number, and the police , num bering 6,000.

> (4) EDUCATIONAL Comparatively little has yet been done by the Govern ment for native education. The State maintains orphan and abandoned children , and educates them at Boma and Nouvelle Anvers by Roman Catholic priests ; at 18 they are given their liberty ; for these orphans there are also two special schools of training, created in 1897 and 1906, leading up to careers in the military and civil service of the Colony. For other natives there are pro fessional schools attached to the workships at Boma, Léopoldville, and Stanley ville , open to boys from 12 to 20 authorized by their parents and presented by the chief to the commissioner of the district, a number of primary schools taught by members of religious orders, and a school for the sons of chiefs at Stanleyville. In addition there are many schools conducted by Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries, many absolutely free, others subject to Government inspection, which is insisted upon in the case of schools for orphans, and when grants of land have been made to the mission .

1 482 and 190 respectively in 1912 (Cd . 6606 , p . 80 ).