INTRODUCTION V 



success ; and it is estimated that it has saved the agricul- 

 turists Us. 10,00,000 in interest on every crore lent out 

 by the societies. A short history of this movement is 

 given on pages 444-49. 



An interesting and instructive account of the co- 



o 



operative credit movement in Europe is given in Chapter 

 Y (pp. 283-406) which contains selected extracts from 

 the valuable Reports of SIR E. A. NICHOLSON published in 

 Madras in 1885 and of MR. J. R. CAHILL, published as a 

 Blue Book in 1913. In the same chapter has been inclu- 

 ded, as a subject of comparative study, an account of 

 the Egyption system of making agricultural loans. It 

 consists in the Government's enlisting the co-operation 

 of a private Bank for providing borrowing facilities to 

 the fellaheen and differs essentially from th? co-operative 

 credit system. The whole financial responsibility for 

 these loan transactions rests with the Bank, which, 

 financially assisted by Government, distributes the loans 

 through its own officers, the Government ha-ving no 

 pecuniary interest in the operations. The part played 

 by the latter is limited to the collection of the Bank's 

 dues through the officers who collect the land-tax, the 

 Bank being thus saved the cost and responsibility of 

 collection. It will be remembered that it was generally 

 predicted that a similar system would prove a failure in 

 India, although it had worked well in Egypt ; the reason 

 apparently being that the volume of operations and the 

 area of territory over which they extend in the latter 

 country are much smaller and of more manageable 

 demensions than could possibly be dealt with by a Central 

 Bank in India. 



The compilation is designed to be a source-book and 

 guide for advanced students and teachers who desire to 

 prosecute a special study of the subject, and I hope 

 to follow it up, under the auspices of the Calcutta 



