40 ITALY - CREDIT 



and allows that, in so far as more land than in 1916-1917 is given up to 

 these crops, the institutions of agricultural credit which are authorized 

 by special laws may grant subsidies, up to the amount of 70 liras per hec- 

 tare of the added area, for the execution of the work necessary to preparing 

 it for sowing. Such grants may be made to landowners or lessege so long as 

 they cultivate their lands directly, and to farmers having the usual contracts 

 of tenancy. A subsequent ministerial decree, dated 24 August 191 7, raised 

 the maximum limit of the loans to 100 liras per hectare. 



§ 2. The decrees of zb july and k) axd 28 august 191 7. 



Other noteworthy provisions are contained in the lieutenancy decree 

 of 26 July 1917, No. 1269, which aims at facilitating the cultivation of 

 cereals by agricultural associations. By the terms of this decree agricultu- 

 ral loans and current accovints in favour of agricultural associations which 

 are legally constituted, whether as moral corporations or as co-operative 

 societies, for the conduct of the farms which they manage, will be regulated 

 only by the rules of the lieutenancy decree of 8 October 1916, No. 1336, which 

 we examined in our issue for December 1916 (page 82), to which we refer 

 the reader. When such loans and current accounts are granted for the 

 cultivation of cereals by duly authorized institutions they will be secured 

 by the privilege determined by Article 9 of the cited decree of 10 May 191 7, 

 No. 788, on the property* specified in the first part of the same Article, and 

 the privilege determined by the lieteunancy decree of 8 October 1916, 

 No. 1336, on other property-. Lending contracts as to the operations we 

 have indicated and copies of extracts therefrom will be exempt from the 

 stamp and registration duty. Bills depending on such contracts, on which 

 the limits of .such. contracts should be indicated, are exempt from the stamp 

 duty. Finally the Istimto Nazionale di Credito per la Coopcrazione is in- 

 cluded among the institutions authorized to grant loans for the cultivation 

 of cereals, and is assimilated to institutions of agricultural credit as regards 

 the advances made by the State with which the lieutenancy decree of 28 

 June 1917, No. 1035, deals. 



In execution of the provisions we have examined the subsequent de- 

 crees of 19 and 28 August 1917 granted the following advances to each of 

 the institutions of agricultural credit indicated below : 



i) Savdngs-Bank of the Bank of Naples, for the provincial funds of 

 agricultural credit which it manages in accordance with the law of 2 Feb- 

 ruary 1911, No. 70, 10,000,000 liras. 



^2) Provincial fund of agricultural credit for Basilicata, 1,500,000 liras. 



3) Istituto di Credito Agrario Vittorio Emanuele III. for Calabria, 

 1,000,000 liras. 



4) Cassa Ademprivile of Sassari and Cagliari, 1,500,000 liras each. 



5) Federation for Agricultural Credit in ]\Iarci^, for the agricultural 

 funds of the region, 1,000,000 liras. 



