[*]
[Footnote *: Letter to the Manx Reform League, November, 1903.]
[Illustration: AN OLD FARMER]
Plage de Westende, Le Coq, and Duinbergen--three charming summer
resorts--have been created by building societies. Nieuport-Bains
and La Panne have been developed by the owners of the adjoining
lands, the families of Crombez and Calmeyn. Wenduyne, on the other
hand, which lies between Le Coq and Blankenberghe, has been made
by the State, while the management of Blankenberghe, Heyst, and
Middelkerke, as bathing stations, is in the hands of their communal
councils.
On the coast of Flanders, Ostend--'La Reine des Plages'--is, it
need hardly be said, the most important place, and its rise has
been very remarkable. Less than fifty years ago the population was
in all about 15,000. During the last fifteen years it has increased
by nearly 15,000, and now amounts to about 40,000 in round numbers.
The increase in the number of summer visitors has been equally
remarkable. In the year 1860 the list of strangers contained 9,700
names; three years ago it contained no less than 42,000. This floating
population of foreign visitors who come to Ostend is cosmopolitan
to an extent unknown at any watering-place in England.
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