as the Solicitor General, the Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, Treasurer of the Household, Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, Paymaster General, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Economic Secretary to the Treasury. Ministers of State are bound by the Ministerial Code. Subnational office In the republic of Burma, the title was used for the Chief ministers of the following autonomous states, from 1947/48 till the abolition of that autonomy in 1962: Arakan State (Rakhine), Chin State, Kayin State (Kayin), Kayah State (Karenni), Kachin State and Shan State Other uses Australia Australia: Section 64 of the Commonwealth constitution empowers the Governor-General to appoint "the Queen's Ministers of State for the Commonwealth [of Australia]" as "officers to administer such departments of State of the Commonwealth as the Governor‑General in Council may establish". The Ministers of State Act 1952 defines the number of ministers only distinguishes between ministers and parliamentary secretaries (now known as assistant ministers). However, in practice ministers of state are divided into the Cabinet and the outer ministry. The only ministerial portfolio to have the term "minister of state" in the title is Special Minister of State. Netherlands and Belgium In the Netherlands (Minister van Staat in Dutch) and Belgium (also Ministre d'État in French), Ministers of State is a title of honour awarded formally by the Monarch, but on the initiative of the government. It is given on a personal basis, for life rather than for a specified period. The title is granted for exceptional merits, generally to senior politicians at the end of their party career. Ministers of state are often former cabinet members or party leaders. Ministers of State advise the Sovereign in delicate situations, with moral authority but without formal competence. In Belgium they are entitled to a seat, alongside the members of the government in power, in the Crown Council; to date the Crown Council has been convened on only five occasions, the first being in 1870 for the Franco-Prussian War, and the latest in 1960 in connection with the independence of the Belgian Congo. Apart from that, the only privileges of being a "minister of state" are precedence according to protocol on state occasions and a ministerial car registration number. De facto, appointments tend to respect the almost obsessional balances between the Flemish and French-speaking communities as well as between the 'ministeriable' political families: mainly Christian-democrats, Socialists, Liberals, also (moderate)