266 PROVISION OF BORROWING FACILITIES. 



notwithstanding numerous failures, and much discredit attendant 

 upon a period of speculation, they have attained a very considerable 

 degree of success, since at present they include some 36,000 members 

 with a paid-up capital of 75 lakhs, is encouraging as suggesting the 

 possibility of establishing true co-operative credit societies among an 

 Indian people. 



It was the Madras Government, then, who, towards the end 



of 1899, forwarded for the consideration of the Government of 



India a report upon the subject which had been prepared under their 



orders by MR. (now SIR FREDERICK) NICHOLSON, and which is a 



monument of research and a perfect storehouse of information ; while 



about the same time MR. DUPERNEX, a civilian in the United 



Provinces, published a book upon 'Peoples' Banks for Northern India'. 



The Government of India fully realised the doubts and 



difficulties which must attend any attempt to introduce the 



RAIFFEISEN system into rural India. But they also recognised the 



enormous advantage which would result to the Indian cultivators 



if by any means they could be induced to utilise their combined 



savings under a system of co-operative credit, and so be freed, even 



partially, from the necessity of recourse to the professional money 



lender. They therefore referred the subject in its most general form 



to Local Governments for preliminary consideration and suggestions. 



After some intermediate discussion, the opinions of Local 



Governments were considered in June 1901 by a strong Committee 



under the presidency of my Hon'ble colleague SIR EDWARD LAW ; and 



it was on the report of this committee, to which were attached a draft 



Bill, and draft model schemes of management for co-operative credit 



societies with limited and unlimited liability respectively, that 



proposals for action first took a form sufficiently definite to 



allow of detailed discussion. These proposals were referred to 



Local Governments for criticism, and it is upon a consideration 



of the replies which have been received to this reference that the 



Government of India now propose to take action. 



While the subject had thus been under discussion, a certain 

 amount of experience had been gained from experiments which 

 had been made with varying success in several provinces of Northern 

 India. In some cases failure had ensued, or was only averted by 

 official support ; but in a few instances genuine success had been 

 achieved, and real co-operation for the purpose of utilising the 

 combined credit had been arrived at among a cultivating community. 



