PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION 



and lent at 9 per cent, to societies, which in turn lent to their members at 15 

 per cent., thus leaving a broad margin. The district central banks were 

 dependent to a large extent on the provincial bank, wliich supported them 

 with cash credit from time to time. Unions had increased from ninety- 

 two to 112, partly because .six large unions had split into two, three or 

 even four. The unions comprised 1,117 o^'''t of a total of 1,252 societies. 



Agricultural Societies. — Of the 1,252 societies 606 were of the 

 lyUzzatti and 646 of the Raiffeisen type. Their total share capital was 7 

 lacs (i) and their reserve funds amounted to about 6 V2 ^^'^s. These two 

 items were respectively equivalent to 45 per cent, and 33 per cent, of the 

 societies' total liabilities. The model by-laws were being amended in order 

 that the general meeting might fix the maximum borrowing power of a 

 society and the maximum normal credit it could grant to a member. The 

 average membership of a society was twenty-seven and the average loan 

 per member Rs 136. On three tracts of land co-operation went hand in 

 hand with colonization, namely the Mon Canal Tract, the Mohnyin Valley 

 and the Kadonbaw Tract. The main features of the colonizing scheme 

 were that an area was let to co-operative societies formed of cultivators 

 migrating to it. and not granted .or let to individuals, and that such socie- 

 ties were based on co-partnership tenancy and had no capital, but bor- 

 rowed money from government as an agricultural advance. Cattle insur- 

 ance societies had increased by four and sale societies decreased by 

 forty-nine. 



Audit and Inspection. — There was a proposal to separate adminis- 

 trative from auditing work in order to prevent the overlapping of respon- 

 sibility, appointing an auditor on a salary of from Rs. 70 to Rs. 120 for 

 every himdred societies and obtaining funds b}' let^ying an auditing fee. 

 Supervision was also to be undertaken by anion officials and honorary 

 organizers. 



§ 3. The united province of agra and oudh. 



The following table shows the progress of co-operation in 1914-1915 

 as compared with the previous year : 



(1) T lac = Rs. 1,00,000. 



