CO-OPERATION 77 



Co-operation in Great Britain. 

 It must not be inferred that what has been 

 done m Ireland and Denmark can be repeated 

 straightway in Great Britain, where the con- 

 ditions are different. But co-operative socie- 

 ties and credit banks have played a great part 

 in the maintenance and development of 

 agriculture in other countries where the 

 conditions more nearly resemble those of 

 Great Britain, and notably in Belgium and 

 Gennany. Their value in assisting small 

 cultivators cannot be denied, and they are 

 catching hold in Great Britain. From the 

 latest official report, which brings the 

 statistics only down to 1909, the number of 

 agricultural productive societies had then in- 

 creased from eight in 1895 to 23 in 1909, and 

 the distributive societies from five to 176. It 

 is true that they are very small. The total 

 membership of the former was only 1,216 and 

 of the latter 17,449, but they are growing. 

 There are also 44 credit societies in England 

 and Wales, and a central Agricultural Organ- 

 isation Society, which receives a grant from 

 the Development Fund. In connection with 

 the small holdings movement considerable 

 and growing activity has been shown since the 

 Acts of 1907-8 in the formation of associa- 

 tions for taking up small holdings on a co- 

 operative plan. Down to the end of 1911 over 

 4,500 acres had been let to 39 associations 



