MUTUAI, FUNDS FOR INSURANCE AGAINST THE ACCIDENTS OF AGRICULTURE 45 



employed, in the measure fixed by the law for compulsory insurance 

 (31 Januarj^ 1904, no. 51) now in force, namely : 



i) in the case of death an indemnity equal to five years' wages ; 



2) in the case of total permanent disablement an indemnit}^ equal to 

 six 3^ears' wages and never less than 3,000 liras (i) ; 



3) in the case of partial permament disablement an indemnity equal 

 to six times the amount by which the yearly wages have been or may be 

 reduced, and never less than 500 liras. 



Up to 1909 indemnification for temporary disablement was excluded. 

 It was then admitted and extended to cover workmen not compelled by 

 law to insure, and under this head about 2,600 liras was paid in 1913 in 

 indemnities for 1,350 working days. 



The sum of 239,412.05 liras was paid in ten years for various accidents 

 as follows : 



1904 liras 2,855.00 



1905 » 10,248.00 



1906 » 15,568.35 



1907 » 23,855.12 



1908 » 17,839.90 



Premiums are fixed according to the area of the land and the 

 cultivated land, and — reimbursements being taken into account — they 

 have varied from 0.52 liras to 0.62 liras a hectare (2). 



The chief merit of the Mutual Fund of Vercelli, apart from that at- 

 taching to the position of pioneer, is that it has based insurance not only 

 on the value of the wages of each single labourer, but also on the sum of 

 the labour required bj' a determined area according to the mode of its cul- 

 ture. Consequently a premium attaches to an area independently of any 

 identification of particular labourers ; and therefore the pay-books and the 

 registration of labourers, on which the institutions insuring industrial work- 

 ers insist, have been abolished. 



When the amount of labour required for a crop has been determined 

 as well as the area it occupies within a farm, the particular system of rota- 

 tion of crops being taken into account, average sums for a hectare can be 

 computed. 



In Vercelli and adjacent lands these have been fixed at 157 liras and 

 175 liras a hectare. At the rate of 5 per cent, they give the amounts of 

 the initial preventive premiums as 0.785 lira and 0.875 lira a hectare, which 

 amounts have been reduced to 0.52 lira and 0.62 lira by the effect of reim- 

 bursements. 



The financial year of the fund begins on ii November and ends on 10 

 November, thus corresponding to the farming year. When the books are 



(i) IS = 1. 261 1 liras. 



(2) I hectare = 2 acres i rood 35.383 poles. 



