A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



BCTANi; 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. ^^'^'^^'^ 



Vol. IV. No. 75. 



BARBADOS, FEBliUAltY 



1905. 



Pr.iCE If?. 



CONTENTS. 



T the recent West Indian Agricultural 

 Conference at Trinidad the Hon. Wm. 

 Fawcett, Director of Public Gardens in 

 Jamaica, read a valuable paper on Agricultural Banks 

 in which he advocated the establishment of co-opera- 



tive loan banks on the plan of the ' Raiflfeisen ' system 

 which has given such satisfactory" results within recent 

 years in German\- and Central Europe. 



For some time past — but more especially since 

 the hurricane of 1903 — the establishment of agri- 

 cultural banks of some kind has been advocated in 

 Jamaica. As mentioned by Mr. Olivier in his Annual 

 Bcport on Jamaica for 1903-4, the condition of the 

 peasant proprietors whose land had been devastated 

 by the hurricane brought into prominence the neces- 

 sity of some provision being made to meet further 

 emergencies. The situation that arose through the 

 destruction of the banana crop gave rise to a suggestion, 

 comnninicatcd through the Secretary of State, that 

 a scheme for insuring the banana crop might possibly 

 be established under the direction of the Government. 

 This suggestion was referred to a committee of the 

 Board of Agriculture, and submitted for the opinion 

 of the planting community, and having been reported 

 upon as liot feasible, proposals were put forward for 

 the establishment of Agricultural Loan Banks. It was 

 submitted that the experience gained by the Govern- 

 ment in connexion with the organization of Government 

 loans under the 'Hurricane Loans Law, 1903,' seemed 

 to encourage a trial of such a scheme. 



As the success of the working of the law above 

 referred to has been mainly responsible for the urgent 

 advocacy of the establishment of Loan Banks, it may 

 be of interest to review briefly its principal provisions. 

 It authorized the Government to make loans to persons 

 in possession of land the cultivation on which had 



