AGRICULTURAL CREDIT IX BOSNIA AXD HERZEGOVINA 6l 



In igocS a law as to the issue of mortgage titles was promulgated. There 

 are however no statistical data relative to them except for the last five 

 years, and we can therefore make no deductions as to the law's effects. 



Ailiong the different kinds of mortgage loans those having reference 

 to the redemption of lands in the interest of the kmeti have a very special 

 importance to the problem of agrii_ulture in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 



Until 1910 mortgage credit was granted to kmeti b}' precisely those semi- 

 official institutions which we have already mentioned, especially by the 

 Wiener Unionbank until 1886, by the Mortgage Bank from 1886 to 1905 and 

 by the Landesbank from 1895 to 191 o. 



The terms offered by these various institutions of credit for the pur- 

 chase of land and its affranchisement from feudal burdens do not differ 

 from those usual in the case of mortgage credit. Institutions conducting 

 operations of the sort gave credit to borrowers within the limits of half the 

 value of the properties mortgaged for purposes of purchase. The borrower 

 was forced, in order to procure the other half of the sum he needed for the 

 redemption of the land he tilled, to have recourse to capitalist usurers or 

 to sell his live stock. 



As regards the term of operations of this sort it ma}' be said generally 

 to have been long — from fifteen to twenty years. The rate of interest 

 was 6 per cent, and could be raised to 8 per cent, only in the case of delay. 

 If the sums necessary for the redemption of a holding were pro\'ided by; 

 the Treasury the rate of interest varied from 3 to 6 per cent. 



In the period between 1879 and 1910 the official institutions we have 

 named lent the total value of 23,129,975 crowns for the redemption of lands. 



The official report for 1906 on the administration of Kalaj, governor 

 of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the conclusions to be drawn from it deserve 

 special notice. 



Kalaj 's policy is criticized. The first governor of the two provinces 

 as occupied b}- Austria and Hungary is accused of having neglected the 

 agrarian question and wishes are expressed that his successor may give 

 it all its rightful importance. 



Count Burian, who was Kalaj 's inmiediate successor, showed that he 

 had well understood this importance. His whole poHcy aimed at elimi- 

 nating the difficulties in the way of solving the agrarian question in Bosnia 

 and Herzegovina. 



A first attempt to solve that part of this difficult problem which relat- 

 ed to the redemption of lands in the interest of the kmeti was made by 

 Burian, who entered into negotiations with the Commercial Bank of Buda- 

 pest. But this attempt did not succeed, and the government undertook 

 the direct granting of mortgage credit for the purchase of the lands. 



With this object and on the basis of the provisions of the law of 1911 

 a new administrative department was attached to the government of Bosnia 



