10 ITAt^Y - CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



liras are for direct loans with an agricultural privilege as to 4,218 hec- 

 tares (i) of cultivated land ; and 1,569 for 4,541,478.90 liras have been 

 ceded by intermediary institutions. 



The average amount of the bills was 3,496 liras as against 3,417 liras 

 in 1915. 



The credit was distributed as follows among the various forms of co- 

 operation : 



• 



societies of production and labour and their con^ 



sortia liras 43,150,140.55 



agriculture and their consortia. ... " 2,263,848.59 

 credit and intermediary institutions . " 4,824,360.59 

 consumption and their consortia . . " 1,841,416.61 

 for building and institutions for pop- 

 ular dwellings " 3,329,409.67 



of various kinds " 1,476,080.26 



The distribution according to districts was as follows : 



North Italy 36,297,709.31 liras 



Central " 18,667,811.22 



South " 1,9197.35-54 " 



A progressive increase also affected the sum in hand, which in 1916 

 was 333,659,456.19 liras or 138,610,455.02 liras more than in 1915. The 

 items of the interest-bearing current accounts, which likewise increased , 

 were distributed as follows : receipts 21,743,720.53 liras in 1916 against 

 4,482,449.60 liras in 1915 ; expenditure 18,713,107.41 liras in 1916 against 

 4,016,951.03 liras in 1915 ; and the surplus balance at the end of 1916 was 

 therefore 3,496,111.69 liras. 



The activity of the various offices of inspection which this Institute 

 founded in many co-operative centres also has a special importance. The 

 National Institute of Credit for Co-operation was indeed one of the first 

 bodies in Italy to organize a service of inspection on just principles. For 

 this end it made special offices charged to give to their client co operative 

 societies such aid in the matter of administrative and book-keeping tech- 

 nique as they should need ; and to wgtch over the course of the co-operative 

 businesses and the development of the public works to which it gives 

 financial help. These offices work successfully at Rome, Florence, Genoa, 

 Bologna, Venice, Verona, etc. They are notably profitable both to the Insti- 

 tute, which is enabled by their assiduous vigilance to protect its credit as 

 effectively as possible, and to the co-operative societies which in many cases 

 when the call came to the colours simply entrusted their administration and 

 technical management to them. One of them is particularly worth)^ of men- 

 tion, the Ufficio di Assistenza e Consulenza per le Cooperative Agricole which 



(1) I hectare = 2.47 acre?. 



