26 lNFORiL\TION RELATING TO CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



As regards form of liability the societies were distributed as follows: 



1. Unlimited liability societies . . . 21,849 or 60.6 per cent. 



2. Societis to which new payments 



were unlimited 168 " 0.4 



3. Limited liabiUt}^ societies - . . . 14,015 " 39 " " 



The unlimited Uabilit^- societies were diminishing while the percentage 

 of societies having limited hability was increasing. In 1905, 68.8 per cent, 

 of the societies had unlimited and only 30.6 limited liability. Unlimited 

 liability prevailed in 1915 among the credit societies, 87 per cent, of which 

 had this form, and among the rural producers' societies of which 65 per 

 cent, had it. Limited HabiHty predominated on the other hand among 

 all the others, especially among the trade societies, the merchants' societies 

 and the producers' societies. 



ITALY. 



I. A MEETING OF THE REPRESENTATIVE^ OF THE CATHOLIC ECONOMIC OR- 

 GANIZATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES. — Azione Sociale, organ of the 

 Unione Economico-social e fra i cattolici iialiani, No. 17, Faenza, 15-31 December 1916. 



Under the auspices of the Economico-Social Union of Catholic Italians 

 and on the initiative of Federazione Bancaria Italiana (i) in agreement 

 with the Federazione Italiana delle Casse Riirali Cattoliche, a meeting of re- 

 presentatives of the Catholic economic institutions of vSouthern Italy was 

 recently held at Rome. Its object was to find practical means of inten- 

 sifying Catholic economic activity' in the south. The organization and 

 the present condition of the Catholic banks and the rural funds and agri- 

 cultural union of the provinces of the district were examined, and discus- 

 sions were held as to the methods best adapted to promote their develop- 

 ment and co-ordination. As regarded, in particular, the banks, this meeting 

 decided to entrust to the Federazione Bancaria Italiana the task of : a) 

 promoting and bringing to a conclusion action for the formation of provin- 

 cial or local institutions of credit in the most important centres ; h) facili- 

 tating the transformation of existing banks from co-operative limited liability 



(i) This federation of Italian Catholic banks was formed at Milan " in order to afford 

 reciprocal protection, \igilance, co-ordination and assistance to each bank in its autonomous 

 exercise of economic activity ". The bank discharges the following fimctions by the means of 

 a federal committee: a) it visits federated banks and causes their inspection at least once a year: 

 h) it acts as an intermediary relating them mutuallj' in order to ensure that the activ-ity of each 

 harmonizes with the collective interest; c) it endeavours to make them take opportune mea- 

 sures for the avoidance and defeat of the moral and financial difficulties which they may en- 

 counter ; d) it assists and represents the federated banks where their general interests are 

 concerned. 



