30 ITALY - CO-OPEKATION AND ASSOCIATION 



Ever>' member has a right to at least one vote and may not have 

 more than six. Resolutions are carried by a majority of votes of the mem- 

 bers present. 



It is within the competence of the meeting of the federated members : 

 (a) to approve the reports of the Permanent Committee on the work of the 

 federation and the financial statements ; (6) to amend the rules of the fed- 

 eration proposed by the above Committee ; (c) to decide upon questions 

 submitted to it by the Committee ; {d) to dissolve the Federation. 



The Permanent Committee is formed by the Board of INIanagement of the 

 Federal Bank, of which we shall speak hereafter, and amongst its other 

 duties it must see that the obligations laid down in the rules are observed b}' 

 the members ; censure the action of members contravening the rules, and, 

 if need be, decide on their expulsion; provide for the protection of their gen- 

 eral interests by the study and solution of all questions relating to their 

 functions and co-ordinating their independent acti\dties so as to facilitate 

 their tasks and render them more profitable ; stud}^ and formulate rules and 

 methods to which the members must conform in the performance of com- 

 pulsory mutual ser\dces and the execution of their common business ; and, 

 finally, carn,^ out or get carried out -periodical inspections in the Fed- 

 erated Institutes, formulate rules for them and enforce the penalties 

 imposed by these. 



Only those co-operative credit institutes the Permanent Committee 

 approves maj- be members of the Federation. They must subscribe fifty 

 shares in the Federal Bank and declare their acceptance of the rules. 



Before admission, members must also pay an entrance fee of i,ooo frs. 



The members are bound to assist each other mutually and to give each 

 other ad\nce in ever3^ matter in which their interests do not conflict. They 

 must reserve for one another all business in connection mth the collection 

 of biUs, moneys etc., in ever^- place in which the federated societies have 

 a head or branch ofiice ; must inform each other, when requested, of the 

 credits opened to their customers and correspondents, their direct oper- 

 ations and rediscountings ; must institute amongst themselves a service 

 of circular orders on the Federal Bank, with the obligation to honour 

 them in all head and branch offices etc. 



Besides the entrance fee above mentioned, the members must pay 

 the Federation a yearly contribution of two hundred francs for ever^^ vote 

 they have, and, at the request of the permanent committee, must keep 

 at the Federal Bank, in current account, at interest, a deposit of 20,000 

 francs at least and 50,000 frs. at most, according to the rules the Committee 

 shall lay down in the matter. 



Coming more especially to the Federal Bank of the Credit Co-operative 

 Societies, we see that it is constituted under the form of a limited liability 

 co-operative society •udth unlimited capital, and that it is the central or- 

 ganization for the common action of the above federation, with which, 

 as we have seen, it is intimately connected. 



Its objects are : 



(a) to perform the ofl&ce of a Central Bank for the co-operative instit- 

 utes, its members, for all their credit, clearing and mutual business; 



