HAZEBROUCK  , a

town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Nord, on the canalized Bourre, 29 M . W.N.W. of Lille, on the Northern railway, between that town and St Omer . Pop . (1906), town, 8798; commune, 12,819 . With the exception of the church of St Eloi, a building of the 16th century with a spire of fine open work 26o ft. high, and the hospice, occupying a convent built in the 16th and 17th centuries, there is little of architectural interest in the town . Hazebrouck is the seat of a sub prefect, and has a tribunal of first instance and a board of trade arbitration . It is the market for a fertile agricultural district, and has trade in live-stock, grain and hops . Cloth-weaving is the chief industry . Hazebrouck is an important junction, and railway employes form a large part of its population .