157 



that three or four members can ckib together and guarantee their 

 own accounts if approved by the committee, up to twelve months' 

 credit at 8 per cent, interest. This is the buying side of the bus- 

 iness. Now as to the selhng. The Union has sold this year 60,- 

 000 bags of mealies for members at prices ranging from 10s. to 

 20s. per bag. The members are under no compulsion to buy or 

 sell with the Union. But they realize that the Union saves them 

 much time and trouble and obtains the highest prices. To the 

 up-country farmer the Union is of special value. Take the case 

 •of wattle bark. The Union has agents in London and Hamburg, 

 makes contracts and ships direct. The other day a member re- 

 ceived £1 per ton above the local market price in Durban. A form 

 is sent out to all the members. They guarantee to supply a 

 stated quantity of bark per month. With this knowledge the 

 Union committee can watch the market and so secure the best 

 price. The individual dealer in Durban does not know what 

 quantity of bark he may have on hand month by month, and, 

 consequently, he cannot offer as favorable terms. The Union 

 also imports pedigreed stock, purchases fencing material, pub- 

 lishes a \veekly agricultural gazette which is issued free of charge 

 to every member, and now proposes to insure live stock of every 

 description. It is another illustration of the advantage of friendly 

 cooperation in modern farming. The day of isolation, suspicion 

 and farm secrets is dead. The success of a nation is not measured 

 by the fortunes of a few, but by the prosperity of every citizen. — 

 The Agricultural Journal of flic Union of South Africa. 



IN THE PUNJAB. 



We recently directed attention to the inestimable benefits con- 

 ferred upon the agriculturists of the Punjab by the extension of 

 the cooperative credit system in that province. There has just 

 been issued from the government press a statement which shows 

 how rapid has been the growth of this beneficent movement 

 throughout India. In the five years from 1906-07 to 1911-12 the 

 iiumber of societies, central, urban and rural, rose from 843 to 

 ■8177 and the total membership from 90,844 to 403,318. The in- 

 'crease in the financial resources of the societies was even more 

 marked. In the first of the years named the capital available, in- 

 cluding loans from private persons and from other societies, share 

 capital deposits bv members, and State aid aggregated Rs. 23^ 

 lakhs. By 1910-11 the total had gone up to Rs. 230>< lakhs, 

 while at the end of the past financial year it had still further 

 Increased to Rs. 337^ lakhs. — Indian Agriculturist. 



CO-OPERATION IN DENMARK. 



The November issue of "Denmark Abroad." a monthly review, 

 contains a lengthy article on the Danish Credit Societies by M. P. 



