INFORMATION RElvATING TO CREDIT 73 



RUSSIA. 



THE QUESTION OF FOREST CREDIT IN FINLAND. — VESTERINEN (Emil) : Ky- 

 symys lainan antamisesta metsdvakimtta vastaan (The Question of Credit on the Security 

 of Forest Mortgages), Maatalous, Helsingfors, Year i<ji6, Number 14. 



The Union of the Savings Banks of F'inland has taken advantage of 

 a law of 1 90 1, which instituted mortgages on wood-feUing contracts in the 

 interests of workers in wood, and has approved a detailed scheme for the 

 organization of forest credit and submitted it to the 408 savings banks in 

 the country, inviting them to introduce such credit into their business. 

 Savings banks do indeed seem to be well fitted for activity of the kind, in 

 right of their simple and inexpensive organization, their knowledge of 

 local life, and their opportunities for watching over the mortgaged forests. 



The clauses of the scheme maj^ be resumed as follows : 



i) The owner of a forest causes it to be valued by an expert in for- 

 estry, who should ascertain its actual condition, the quantity of its wood 

 which can be sold and the price this wood will actually fetch, the total 

 amount of wood cut annually, and the principles on which the forest 

 should be maintained ; and he shoitld draw up a short plan for its manage- 

 ment during the first ten years. 



2) The owner of the forest makes a wood-felling contract, in the name 

 of the savings bank or at its order, and has it registered at the office of the 

 competent court. 



3) He then remits to the savings bank the registered contract and 

 the valuations, together with his request for a loan and the other docu- 

 ments necessary to a grant of credit secured by a mortgage on land. A 

 deed of pledge is then drawn up according to a form fixed by the savings 

 bank. 



4) Before the owner of the forest can receive his loan he must remit 

 to the savings bank a policy insuring the forest against fire. The recently 

 formed Union of Mutual Insurance against Fire of the Forest Owners 

 of Finland has inserted in its by-laws a paragraph which contemplates 

 forest credit, and guarantees an indemnity to anyone who has lent money 

 to the owner of a forest in return for his deed of pledge. 



