ToL. VIII. Xo. 175. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



la 



AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION. 



Encouragement of Movement in Great Britain. 



Witli thf object i)t' promotino^ the principles of 

 -co-oper;irioii among small hoirlcis in En(,'l;ind and 

 Wales, the Boaid of Agriculture and Fisheries lias 

 lately made a giant of £L200 per annum, for a period 

 of three years, to the Agricultural (Organization Society, 

 which exists for the purpose of encouraging and assist- 

 ing the practice of co-operation among agriculturists. 



The chief conditions under which this, grant 

 is made, are : — 



(1) That the work of tlie Society .shall be contiiied to 

 organization and auditing only. By the term ' organization ' 

 is understood : the advocacy of the adoption of co-operative 

 method.s by the agricultural classes for their benefit, the 

 giving of advice and in.struction as to the apiilication of the 

 princij)]es of cooperation to industries for the benefit of the 

 rural population, and the giving of advice and assistance to 

 ■co-operative societies in the conduct of their affairs. 



(2) The Society shall appoint at least three organizers 

 for the promotion of co-operation in conne.xion with the 

 ■cultivation of small holdings and allotments, of whom one 

 shall be conversant with the organization of co-operative 

 ■societies for the production and sale of poultry and eggs. 



AGRICULTURAL BANKS. 



The great assistance that the peasant agricultural 

 ■chissof these colonies might derive from the institution of 

 agricultural banks in the several islands has frerpieiitly 

 been urged by a number of advocates, although little 

 has so far been done to demonstrate in a practical way, 

 by the establishment of such banks, the actual value of 

 these institutions. The subject has on several occasions 

 -of late been brought forward in Trinidad, and not long 

 ago the Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution, 

 asking the Government seriously to consider the (pies- 

 tion of the establishment of an agricultural bank in the 

 colony, for the benefit of the peasant proprietor class. 



The Port-of-Sjiiiiii Gazette strongly supports this pro|io- 

 sal, and points to the fact that the number of peasant 

 proprietors in the colony is on the increase, and with the 

 encouragement afforded by an agricultural bank, would tend 

 to be a still more valuable asset in the prosperity of the 

 island. It is mentioned that several estate projtrietors in 

 Trinidad, recognizing the fact that a peasant i)ri)iirietary class 

 •ensures the existence of a steady and regular supply of labour 

 in the district in which they have their holdings, have them- 

 selves been in the habit of making money advances to small 

 liokler.s, on the security of the crops cultivated by the latter. 



The article in the ft/ cc/^- concludes as follows : — 



^^'hat is really required is that there shr>idd be estab- 

 lished — in the form of a Government guarantee at least, and 

 possibly at first even as .a Government institution — a means 

 ■ ■wherebj-thevsmallpfoprletor ciin .secure at a reasonable rate 

 <i{ interest, and witliout fear of risking his small property by 

 seeking advances from money lenders, the corniiaratively 

 «mall advances he needs for his cultivation, and whereby at 

 the same time there may be no jaactical risk of loss of the 

 money to the cor[ioration by whom it is lent. Whether here 

 in Trinidad, as in some other countries, such an in.stitution 



ought to be a purely Government scheme, the protil.^ ticnit 

 which^go to the State, or whether it .should be merely the 

 business of State to provide all the needful encouragements 

 and safeguards to induce a private corporation to take 

 up the movement is, no doubt, a matter for consideration : 

 but we think it cannot now he denieil tluit such a bank is 

 urgently wanted in this cohmy. 



There are a number of systems under which 

 agricultural banks or credit societies have been estab- 

 lished in diflerent countries of the world. Probably the 

 most successful, however, especially among small holders 

 and peasant proprietors, as opposed to agriculturists tui 

 a larger scale, is the ' Raiffeisen ' system. 



The main features of banks of the Raiffeisen type are 

 (1) that no shares are issued, the necessary capital for making 

 advances being rai.sed by means of entrance fees, sub.scriptions 

 and deposits, and loans bearing a fixed rate of interest : (2) 

 that the liability of the members is unlimited, every member 

 being jointly and severallj' responsible for any losses that may 

 be incurred by the society ; and (3) that the loans advanced 

 are for reproductive pur[)0ses oidy, i.e., that the object to 

 which the money is applied is one that affords a reasonable 

 security for the loan. 



Under the encouragement of the l)ep;irtnient of Agri- 

 culture and Technical Instruction, banks of the above i-lass 

 have been establi.shetl in all parts of Ireland, and in 1907 

 there were no less than 24-6 in existence in that country. 

 With similar encouragement and assistance at the start, there 

 is no ap]iarent reason why sueh .societies may not lie 

 established witii success in Trinidad. 



It will lie remembered that a pamphlet (No. 35) 

 entitled 'Information in regard to Agricultural Banks,' 

 containing papers on the subject by Mr. Wm. Fawcett, 

 late Director of Public (jardens at Jamaica, and others, 

 has been issued b\' the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture. The price of this pamphlet is 4'/. : post free 

 5d. 



AGRICULTURAL BANKS IN BENGAL. 



The ])rogress of the Agricultural credit moAement 

 and the increase in the number of small agricultural 

 banks among small holders of land in Bengal are report- 

 ed to be most encouraging. 



In 1907, according to the (Jtntitfiii/ Joiniia/ of the 

 Bengal Department of Agriculture, there were in existence in 

 the province 165 registered rural .societies with a mendjersliip 

 of (),903. The loans issued by these societies during 1906-7, 

 amounted to 90,085 rupees (over £6,000). A year later 

 (.June 30, 190S) the number of rural societies had more than 

 douliled, no less than 333 being then registered. 



The greater number of these societies are of tlie 

 Itaiffeisen type, and experience shows that this kind of co- 

 operation is peculiarly suited to a poor agricultural popula- 

 tion, like that of India. The agricultural banks are not onl_y 

 of valuable service by advancing cheap loan.s, but by their 

 methods of (jrganizatifm, they .serve as a means of teachinj^ 

 thrifty and business-like habits. 



What is known as ' grain banks ' also exist in Bengal. 

 These advance .supplies of .seed to small holders, which are 

 afterwards returned in kind, with a small extra amount added 

 as interest for the accommodation. 



