[Extracts from the Proceedings of the Governor General's Council 

 dated tlie 1st March 1911.'] 



CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT SOCIETIES ACT AMENDMENT BILL. 



THE HON'BLE MR. CARLYLE said : I beg to move for leave to 

 introduce a Bill to amend the law relating to Co-operative Credit 

 Societies. When SIR DENZIL IBBETSON introduced the Co-operative 

 Credit Societies Bill in October 1903, he remarked : ' I believe that 

 it would be hard to exaggerate either the importance or the difficulty 

 of the experiment upon which we are about to embark. I feel by no 

 means certain of success. And if we do achieve success, I do not 

 expect to find in it a panacea for all the difficulties of the Indian 

 cultivator. But I am convinced that if we can succeed in inducing 



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him to combine with his fellows to utilise their collective credit for the 

 benefit of each, we shall have done a great deal to lessen those 

 difficulties and to improve his condition. At any rate, I hold it to be 

 the bounden duty of Government to give the experiment a fair trial, 

 and to do all that lies in its power to make it successful. But it must 

 be remembered that success or failure lies in other hands than ours. 

 We can do nothing of ourselves. We can offer encouragement, 

 advice, legal facilities, and executive and financial assistance. It is 

 for the people to decide whether they will avail themselves of our 

 offer. ' The offer has been made to the people, and by the people it 

 has been accepted. While the present Act was under discussion in 

 Council many fears were expressed. There was, said one Indian 

 Member, the want of that one essential quality, namely, co-operation, 

 which has been a prevailing defect of the Indian character from a 

 long time and the cause of many evils. Another Member held that 

 insistence on the principle of unlimited liability was likely to keep 

 away from the new societies those very classes whose help and 

 co-operation would be indispensable. This Member also hUd that 

 insufficient provision was made for financial resources, ancjf'that the 

 absence of some summary procedure to recover the debts due to 

 societies, was likely to interfere with their success. Notwithstanding 

 all these doubts and fears, co-operation has established its footing in 

 India, While the movement is still in its infancy, yet it is a robust , 

 and vigorous infancy which gives great promise for the future. It 

 has been found that the root of the matter does exist in India, and 



