BELGIUM - CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



Number of orders executed 361! 



Circulating funds 2,967,987 francs 



Namely ! ^^^^^P^'^^ i,489>88i " 



.Namely ^ ;E;xpenditure 1,478,106 



Tiurnover 6,205,930 



The inspectorate of dairies was obliged on the other hand to confine 

 its action to the provinces of Antwerp, Brabant and Limbourg, in which 

 seventy-eight co-operative societies are at work, only seven having interrupt- 

 ed their activity since the opening of hostiUties. A certain slackening of 

 business, due to the diminution in membership and also in the number of 

 cows and the quantity of milk dealt with, has however been noted. Thus 

 in the sixty-one dairies, as to which it has been possible to obtain precise 

 data, the number of members is said to have been lowered by 10 per cent, 

 and that of registered animals by 16 per cent, since 1913. The cows have 

 moreover given less milk, a natural consequence of the famine in concentrat- 

 ed foods. Therefore while in 1913 the average quantity of milk suppUed 

 daily was 7.165 kilogrammes a cow in 1915 it was 5.910 kilogranmies, giv- 

 ing a decrease of [18 per cent. Nevertheless 29,108,440 kilogrammes were 

 dealt with in the dairies visited and 1,024,074 kilogrammes of butter 

 manufactured. 



One of the association's most active branches has been indisputably the 

 Central Credit Fund. 



The year 1915 was, says the report, one of the most important years 

 it has had since its foundation. Not only was the number of affiliated local 

 funds increased by forty-four but the savings deposits were more numerous 

 than ever and hundreds of new small loans were made to cultivators in 

 needy circumstances. Of 821 rural funds existing in Belgium at the end 

 of 1915, 437 were affiliated to the central fund. At this date the number of 

 the latter's subscribed shares was 8,987, ha\4ng increased by 420 since the 

 preceding year. The capital in shares was thus brought up to 8,987,000 

 francs. The funds circulated in the year amounted to 63,009,921 francs, 

 thus considerably surpassing their ordinary level. Twenty-one new credit 

 accounts were opened for affihated funds, the total credit thus accorded 

 being for 363,550 francs, which brought the amount of the credit in force on 

 31 December 1915 to 4,904,450 francs. The total of the savings deposits 

 was 22,723,841 francs, having increased by 6,202,311 francs since 1914 

 and by 6,613,469 since 1913, the last normal year. 



" This considerable increase in the amount of savings deposits in the 

 second year of the war is partly explained by the fact that cultivators have 

 had partiall}^ to realize their invested capital. It was impo.ssible for them 

 to procure the desired quantities of manures for their fields and of concen- 

 trated food for their live stock. Thanks to the reserv^es of fertilizing sub- 

 stances preserved in the soil they had generally verj' satisfactory'' harvests, 

 and therefore had more liquid cash in hand than usual, but this was to the 

 detriment of the wealth of the soil. They fed their live stock as the}^ could, 

 having no choice but to avoid the expense of purchasing the concentrated 



