46 ITALY - INSURANCE AND THRIFT 



balanced annually the difference between the receipts (premiums and any 

 other sources of revenue) and the expenditure (payment of indemnities 

 and administrative and other expenses) is, as to three tenths, assigned to 

 a reserve fund, and is restored, as to seven tenths, to the members of the 

 society proportionately to the premiums they have respectively paid. If 

 there be a deficit the members are asked for a supplementary^ premium 

 proportionate to that they have already paid. There may be no trespas- 

 sing upon the reserve fund until it has attained to the sum of the premiums 

 in the first year of the society's activity. 



At first the fund's activity reached only the arrondissement of Vercelli ; 

 then it was extended to the arrondissement of Novara and to Ivomellina, 

 and thereafter successively to the arrondissements of Biella, Casale Monfer- 

 rato, Pa via and Abbiategrasso. 



Only those may belong to it who are directly or indirectly engaged in 

 agriculture, as farmers or agents. For admission a written application is 

 necessary in which the total area of the land under cultivation must be 

 stated. The whole number of the members constitute the society's general 

 meeting. The society is administered by a directing council composed 

 of a president and six members, elected by the general meeting by secret 

 ballot and a majority of votes. The president holds office for three years 

 and is always eligible for re-election. The other members of the council also 

 hold office for three years : one third of them are elected every year and 

 they are not eligible for re-election for a year after they have ceased to 

 hold office. The general meeting also elects six arbiters, of whom three 

 determine wages according to declared area and three pay indemnities. The 

 arbiters hold office for three years, a third of them are elected every year, 

 and they are always eligible for re-election. The meeting also elects an- 

 nually from among the members three legal representatives and two depu- 

 ties for these. All offices are unpaid, but the arbiters have the right to be 

 reimbursed for expenses incurred in the course of their duties. 



§ 2. The mutual fund of Florence. 



The mutual fund of the rural proprietors of Tuscany for the insurance 

 of persons employed on farms against the accidents of labour (i), wliich has 

 its offices at Florence, was constituted on the initiative of the local agrarian 

 committee by a resolulution of 4 December 1908 and received the status of 

 a " moral body " by a royal decree of 25 February 1909. It began its 

 activity on 5 April 1909, including within its scope all Tuscany, that is 

 to say the provinces of Florence, Arezzo, Sienna, Lucca, Pisa, Livorno 

 and Grosseto. The fund completed on 29 February 1916 its seventh year, 

 and it appears from its last pubhshed report that at that date, which term- 



{1) Cassumutuadei proprietaridi fondirustici in Toscana per I'assicutazione del personate 

 dellc aziende agrarie contro gli infortuni sul lavoto. 



