Vol. VII. Xo. 155. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



107 



AGRICULTURAL BANKS IN BRITISH 

 COLONIES. 



In fiirtlier reference to the tiuestion of Agricultural 

 Credit Banks, discussed in a recent number of the A<iri- 

 vultural Xciv^ (Vol. VII, p. -iO), the accompanying 

 notes, taken from the Journal of the British Board of 

 Agriculture for February last, and dealing with the 

 progref.« of this movement in South Africa and Western 

 Australia, should be of interest: — 



An act hs.s recently been passed in the ( 'ape of ( Jood 

 Hope providing for the establishment of a Oovernnient hank, 

 for the }iurpose of assisting the occupation and improvement of 

 agricultural lands. The management is vested in a board 

 of trustees appointed by the Governor, and a sum not exceed- 

 ing £1,000,000 sterling may be advanced to them from funds 

 of the Post Office Savings' Bank at not more then 4 per cent, 

 interest. 



Advances may be made by the board to farmers for the 

 following purposes : (a) to jiay off e.Kisting liabilities in 

 cases in which the board approvcs-of an advance for improve- 

 ments ; (h) to ettect improvements, including (1) water storing 

 and irrigation, (2) fencing, (.3) clearing larid for cultivation, 

 (i) planting orchards and vineyards, and (5) farm buildings ; 

 and (c) for purchase of stock and plant. No advances are to 

 be made e.xcept on the security of a first mortgage on land, 

 and the amount is not to exceed two-thirds of the value of 

 the property. No loan will be less then £50 nor more tlian 

 £3,000. The rate of interest is not to exceed 5 per cent., 

 and repayments are to be made half-yearly as may be agreed. 



The JVdtal Govi'inintnt Gdietfe of October 22 contains 

 a copy of an Act (No. 27 of 1907) authorizing the Govern- 

 ment to assist pereons engaged in agricultural and pastoral 

 pursuits by loans, and to ajjpoiut a board of Commissioners 

 for the management and administration of a fund created 

 for that purpose. Ad\ances may be made to farmers and 

 landowuer.s (a) to pay off existing liabilities ; (b) to effect 

 improvements, including water pumping, storing, irrigation, 

 fencing, clearing land for cultivation, plantiiig orchards, etc., 

 and farm buildings ; (c) for purchase of live stock and plant — 

 on security of freehold or quit-rent land, land held from the 

 Crown or land held under private lease if the landlord 

 becomes a joint mortgager. Loans are not to be granted for 

 less than £50 or more than £1,530. Applications for advan- 

 ces of £500 or under are to have precedence over those for 

 a larger amount. 



The Transvaal Government have also passed an Act 

 (No. 26 of 1907) on very sinnlar lines. The funds of the 

 bank to the amount of £2,500,000 sterling are to be advanced 

 from the Transvaal Guaranteed Loan, and a loan to any 

 one person is not to be le.ss than £50 nor more than £2,500, 

 except for large agricultural or irrigation Works, which may 

 be specially authorized, in which case the 'advance maybe 

 increased to £.5,000. The advance is not to exceed three- 

 fifths of the value of the land. 



The Agricultural liank Act of Western Australia (No. 15 

 of 190fi) provides for the issue of mortgage bonds for the 

 purpose of providing funds for advances to farmers. The advan- 

 ces are to be made on the security of land, and are to be for 

 the purpose of clearing, fencing, draiiung, or water supply, for 

 paying off previous mortagages, and for the purchase of stock 

 for breeding purposes. Up to £300 the advance may be to 

 the full value of the piopo.sed improvement, and fui'ther 

 advances not exceeding £200 may be made to one-half of the 

 value of the improvement ; but for the purpose of paying otf 

 previous mortagages, the advance is not to exceed three-fourths 

 of the improvements already made on the holding, and not 



UK.ire tha)i £10(.) is to be advanced for the purchase of breed- 

 ing stock 



lb may be mentioned that many articles on the 

 subject of Agricultural Banks have appeared in past 

 numbers oi'X,\\e Journal of the British Board of Agri- 

 culture. The following niajfr- be specially mentioned: 

 ' Agricultural Credit Banks' (May 1905); 'Village Banks 

 in England' (June, 1905); 'Agricultural Loans in 

 Queensland ' (September, 1905): and ' Agricultural 

 Credit in (iermanv ' (IMarch. inO(i). 



CANADA'S WHEAT-PRODUCING 

 CAPACITY 



In view of the negotiations that have recently 

 taken place in Barbados tending towards the establish- 

 ment of a reciprocal trade arrangement between the 

 West Indies and Canada, Messrs. H. R. Silver, Ltd , 

 Commission Merchants of Halifax, in a recent trade 

 circular issued by the firm, give the following particu- 

 lars relative to the flour industry of the Dominion, 

 which may be interesting to readers, : — 



A large portion of the extra flours shipped from New 

 York to the West Indies are Canadian flours. 



Canada's wheat-growing area in the West is 171,000,000 

 acres in extent, of wdiich at [jresent only about 5,000,000 are 

 under cultivation, producing last year 100,000,000 bushels of 

 wheat. The Canadian AVest is capable of producing three 

 liillion l_>ushels of wheat annually. At the present rate of 

 increa.se it is estimated that in less than ten years' time there 

 will be 10,000,000 acres in wheat yielding 200,000,000 

 bu.shels annually. Even at the present time Canada ranks 

 tenth among the world's wheat-producing countries. 



One hundred pounds of Canadian flour makes more 

 bread of high cpiality than the same weight of any other 

 wheat imported into Great Biitain. 



The grain crop of the Dominion of all kinds reached, 

 last year, nearly 300,000,000 bushels. 



Canada ranked first in the world's display at the 

 St. Louis Fair. One hundred and fifty varieties of wheat 

 and I ither grains were there shown from Canada. 



The daily capacity of the largest milling concern in 

 Canada to-day is 1-1,500 bun-els, or in other words, it can 

 mill sufficient flour in thirteen days to .supply British Guiana 

 for (iiif year. There are two other milling companies whose 

 outjiut is almost as large. 



DOMINICA AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. 



The following is a copy of a note made by 

 Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G., Governor of the 

 Leeward Islands in the visitors' book of the Agri- 

 cultural School on the occasion of a visit which his 

 Excellency paid to the school on March 12 last: — 



1 visited this school (in the li^tli instant and am glail to 

 i-ecord the pleasure whi<-h the visit gave me. I .saw the boys 

 at their work and inspeited all the premises and grounds, 

 wdiich I found clean and well kept. I am satisfied that 

 excellent work is being d<pne at this institution, and I 

 eongiatulate Mr. Brooks, the Otticer-in-charge, on the good 

 ordei- which 1 foun<l prevailing everywhere, and on the 

 method of woik adopted by liini. 



