SERAING  , a

town of Belgium in the province of Liege, adjoining the city of that name . Pop . (1904) 39,843 . It lies on theright bank of the Meuse above Liege, with which it is connected by rail and tramway . Seraing owes all its prosperity and importance to the firm founded by John Cockerill, an Englishman, in 1817, with the co-operation of King William I. of the Nether-lands, who provided half the capital . The Cockerill family has long disappeared, and the enterprise is now known as " the John Cockerill Company." It is one of the largest factories of engines and machinery—apart from war material—on the continent . Its headquarters occupy the old summer palace of the prince-bishops of Liege . In 1890 it established a branch at Hoboken on the Scheldt for the purpose of undertaking ship-building . The company employs 14,000 hands .