XOTICES RELATING TO CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 3 1 



to belong to the co-operative society in its capacity as a legal person and 

 not to be the collective property of the members ; and therefore in case of 

 liquidation it is not distributed to the members but is deposited in the Cen- 

 tral Fund which remits it to any new co-operative society formed in the 

 same place and with the same objects. 



Besides this regular reserve fund the law allows the creation of extraor- 

 dinary reserve funds, which have however a quite different character being 

 employable as working capital. They may be distributed among the mem- 

 bers if the general meeting so decide. 



4) The organs of a co-operative society are the council of administra- 

 tion, the council of vigilance and the general meeting. The functions of 

 the two former are honorary, only their technical officials being paid. In 

 the general meeting of an unlimited liability society all the members have 

 equal rights ; in that of a limited liability society the members are divided 

 into two classes, those having one and those having two votes. 



5) Articles 55 and 56 provide for the liquidation of societies. Iviqui- 

 dation takes place : 



a) in response to a resolution passed by the general meeting; 



b) when a judgement on a legal point has to be executed ; 



c) in case of failure. 



When a liquidation is necessary liquidators are elected who are respon- 

 sible for the conduct of the society's business until the liquidation has been 

 effected. 



The law provides finally that wherever a case is not covered by its 

 dispositions those of the codes of commerce and civil procedure shall be 

 followed. 



Up to 31 December 1915 eighty-seven co-operative societies were 

 created under the provisions of this law, namely sixty-one rural credit so- 

 cieties, eighteen rural producers' societies which included eleven for the pro- 

 duction of dried currants, and eight rural and urban labour societies. 



Of these eighty-seven societies only six had unlimited while eighty-one 

 had limited liability. 



UNITED STATES. 



I . BI5XEI*Iy (J. A. ) and KERR (W. H.; : Business practice and accounts for cooperative 

 STORES. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 381 (1916), pp. 56, pi. i). 



The authors have outhned a simple and adequate system of records 

 for co-operative retail stores and pointed out fundamental business methods 

 that must be observ^ed to insiure success. They have discussed this subject 

 under the headings of corporate records, statements and reports, operat- 

 ing records, auditing, and office equipment. The bulletin outlines in de- 

 tail the necessary records and statements essential to the proper conduct- 

 ing of stores under a co-operative scheme and gives a large number of 

 model forms. 



