MISCELLANEOUS NEWS 8l 



The above mentioned Yearbook provides some interesting information 

 with regard to the special form of collective farms known in Roumania 

 under the name of ohste. It is well known that these associations have made 

 considerable progress as a result of the law of 1903 introduced by Take 

 Protopopescu. Their progress is a great benefit for the national agrictdtural 

 economy, since, besides being able to a large extent to meet the need the 

 Roumanian peasant feels so deeply of having a farm to cultivate himself, 

 it has also the immense advantage, that it gradually eliminates the class 

 of tenant farmers, who have always been a real obstacle to good relations 

 between the landowners and the peasants. 



On September 30th., 1912 there were in Roumania 487 associations of 

 this character, with 66,170 members occupjdng 309,922 ha. In the year 191 1 

 alone, 168 new ohstii were formed with more than 23,000 members, having 

 at their disposal about 2,500,000 lei as guarantee for the lease of 158,000 

 hectares of a rental value of more than 6,500,000 lei. 



But, if we consider the ohstii from the point of view of the ownership 

 of the farms leased, we shall see that the proportion leased from private 

 landowners is continually increasing. For example, we find that 169 obstii 

 have on hire 123,000 ha. from private owners and pay a rent of 4,300,000 lei. 

 Besides this, 80 ohstii hold 52,000 ha. belonging to the State and pay a 

 rent of 1,000,000 lei; other 67 obstii have 83,500 ha. on hire from the 

 trustees of the Civil Hospitals, and pay a rent of about 3,000,000 lei. 



Finally, according to the last statistics, we may say, that, contrary to 

 the assertions of certain detractors of the obstii, the produce of the farms of 

 these associations is quite as good as those of the large private landowners. 



(Summarised form the Revista Economic d ^i Financiavd of Bukarest, Sept- 

 fmber 5th./i8th.. 1913, No. 453). 



