26 ITALY - INSURANCE AND THRIFT 



up the cost of agricultural and forest production. If this sum be compared 

 with the tax ou lands due to the Treasury and the local, provincial and com- 

 munal administrations, it will be found to represent less than 5 per cent, 

 thereof. On the supposition that labourers on farms and in woods in all 

 districts are wage-earners it represents less than i per cent, of wages. On 

 the supposition that the gross agricultural and forest production of all Italy 

 is worth 6,500 million liras, only 2 per thousand of this siim is represented' 

 by the thirteen million liras for insurance against accidents, and only 8 

 per thousand of the average revenue from land which is estimated as equal 

 to a fourth part of the aforesaid gross production. 



It should also be remembered that this estimate of the cost of insurance 

 represents an average and is susceptible to reduction in particular agricul- 

 tural and forest zones. The frequencj'' of accidents in relation to area does 

 indeed vary with the nature of a holding and the kind of crops grown on it, 

 and the tarifE of contributions therefore shows only comparatively low pre- 

 miums for zones agriculturally poor in which, in general, extensive cultiva- 

 tion prevails. For another reason it is permissible to anticipate that the 

 burden will not disturb the equilibrium of the agricultural industry. It 

 appears that in the five years from 1901 to 1905 agriculture was able to sup- 

 port increases in annual wages var5ang from 30 to 40 per cent. In face of 

 such figures the new burden imposed by insurance against accidents, equal 

 to I per cent, of wages, certainly does not seem onerous. 



