CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT IN INDIA 27 



able to expansion. Tliel ast annual Report for the Central Provinces, for the 

 year ending June 30th, 1911, contained the following resolution : " Co-oper- 

 ative work in these provinces is now about to enter upon a fresh stage in its 

 existence. Hitherto the policy followed has been one of cautious experiment . 

 Co-operative principles have now been shaped bj^ experience to meet local 

 requirements ; and though of course, further progress may be looked for in the 

 direction of improved methods and increased knowledge, the time has un- 

 doubtedly come to undertake the expansion of the movement on broad 

 lines. " This policy, the Registrar says in his report, was accordingly 

 adopted for the year under review. 



The Registrar in the Punjab shared the opinion of his colleague in the 

 Central Provinces, and, incidentally, gives a rather cvirions and decidedly 

 significant reason why the increase in the number of registered societies 

 was unusually rapid. He writes : "I am quite awake to the danger of 

 too quick expansion, but people are keen, money is fairly plentiful, and we 

 should, I think, take advantage of the tide. More is lost by over-timidity 

 than by over-confidence. ... It must also be added that it is not always 

 possible to refuse applications for registration. For instance, in part of 

 the Gurdaspur district the moneylenders carried their hostility so far as 

 to refuse advances even in villages in which there was no bank, because 

 they were convinced that banks would be started in them before long. 

 The result was that in order to provide these people with the means of 

 existence, I was compelled to form societies earlier than would othervsdse 

 have been done ; and this partty explains the large increase of societies in 

 Gurdaspur ". 



In spite of the large number of new societies registered, there has been 

 no relaxing of the procedure and rules relating to registration. On the con- 

 trary, the preliminary examination of societies appljdng for recognition tends 

 to become more searching, the Registrar being assisted in carrying out his 

 enquiries by officers of the Central Unions and by voluntary organizers. 

 At the same time weak societies have been dissolved and other societies have 

 been purged of undesirable members. 



The Registrar in the United Provinces reports as follows : "A full 

 local inquiry is made before applications come to me and they are then sub- 

 jected to close scrutiny. A large number have to be refused or kept pending 

 further investigation. " Again, the Registrar in the Central Provinces, 

 who, as we have noted, favoured a policy of expansion, says : " Rapid though 

 the growth of the movement was during the year, the Local Government were 

 satisfied that it was unforced, and was, moreover, subjected to careful 

 pruning and control. Unwieldy societies were reduced in size, weakly so- 

 cieties reorganized or weeded out, and undesirable members eliminated. " 



The average number of members per society in 1911-12 is only 43, which 

 is the lowest numl:)er recorded since the passing of the Act. This is 

 accounted for by the large number of new societies founded during the 

 year ■ — ■ newly registered scieties having as a rule only a small number of 

 members — and by the breaking up of large societies to which reference has 

 already been made. 



