Agricultural Banks. 533 



Imperial Post Office Savings' Bank is to invest them in Government 

 Securities. As the result of this inadequate method of investing, the 

 deposits, coupled with the fall, of recent years, in the price of 

 Consols, there is a present deficit of ;^i 1,000,000 in the funds of the 

 Imperial Post Office Savings' Bank. The Transvaal Government 

 invests the Guardians' Fund and the Post Office Savings' Bank 

 deposits largely on mortgages of town properties, particularly in 

 Johannesburg, at 6% per annum, and comes into keen competition 

 with private capitalists, Building, Financial, Insurance, and Trust 

 Companies, etc., and this leads to speculative dealings in town stands 

 and properties. 



Loans granted out of the funds, referred to above, should as a 

 rule he for amounts of about £^500, and never exceed 50% of the 

 appraised value of the land on which the advance is made. The 

 object of the Government should be to encourage the small cultivators, 

 and sternly set their face against speculative transactions. Farmers 

 should not be induced to involve themselves with a liability they 

 could not conveniently liquidate. 



Such a modified sy stern of an agricultural or Land Bank, as 

 suggested above, could be conducted with great economy and 

 efficiency. The officials are practically all ready to hand. All 

 applications for loans could be finally dealt with by a central Invest- 

 ment Board. The suggested scheme is not Utopian, nor ambitious, 

 nor difficult of attainment ; but is characterised by simplicity, is 

 essentially practicable, and only requires sound business management 

 to render it a decided success. 



The chief virtue of tJie scheme is that it would do an excellent 

 service to agriculture, without incurring any fresh financial liability 

 for the Transvaal. 



Banking Advances in Agricultural Districts. The wise counsel 

 given and the cautious considerations advanced, by a former General 

 Manager of the iNIerchants' Bank of Canada, in connection with 

 lending money to farmers. Loans may reasonably be made to buy 

 seed, prepare the land for a crop, and to meet the expense of 

 gathering in and harvesting the resulting crop ; andalso to buy such 

 stock as will, when fattened, be sold off the farm, as such cases 

 furnish from within themselves the means of re-payment. Loans 

 should never be made to enable farmers to fay debts. 



Government Encouragement of Agriculture in the Transvaal. 

 Superhuman efforts have, since the British occupation, been made to 

 promote the interests of agriculture. The colossal work of repatria- 

 tion ; the establishment of model farms ; the importation of blood- 

 stock ; the creation of the Agricultural and Lands' Departments, all 

 prove that the Government have attempted an entire re-organisation 

 of the farming industry with conspicuous and encouraging success. 

 Great praise is due. Inevitable that, in certain respects, zeal should 

 have outrun discretion. The efforts of Government very well- 

 intentioned, though alluring prospects of brilliant achievements have 

 not been realized. 



