204 



29. Action that may profitably be taken by the State under 

 the three heads 



(a) Education. 



(b) Inspection, control, and audit. 



(c) Lending money. 



Where it prescribes accounts or demands returns these 

 should be extremely simple. 



The following papers were taken as read : 



AGRICULTURAL CREDIT IN THE PORTUGUESE COLONIES. 



By HENRIQUE JOSE MONTEIRO DE MENDONCA, 

 Vice-Governor of the Overseas National Bank, 



JOSE DIONISIO C. DE SOUSA E FARO, 

 Late Governor of Zambezia, 



AND 



ERNESTO JARDIM DE VILHENA, 

 Late Governor of Lourengo Marques. 



[ABSTRACT.] 



This statement -has been prepared under the auspices of the 

 special Portuguese Commission appointed to superintend the 

 preparation of reports and papers for the Third International 

 Congress of Tropical Agriculture. It describes the operations 

 of three of the chief concerns which have been organized in 

 Portugal to facilitate the agricultural development of the 

 Portuguese Colonies, viz., the Banco Nacional Ultramarino, 

 the Companhia de Mozambique, and the Companhia de 

 Zambezia. The Banco Nacional Ultramarino was founded in 

 May, 1864, and, as its name implies, its operations are con- 

 cerned entirely with the overseas possessions of Portugal. It 

 makes advances, repayable by annual instalments, to promote 

 irrigation works, the construction of roads, the formation of 

 plantations, and other similar operations necessary to agricul- 

 tural development, and in addition offers all the usual banking 

 facilities to planters and planting companies. Its statutes 

 defining agricultural credit and stating the conditions under 

 which advances are made are quoted in some detail in the 

 paper, and instances are given of the assistance it has rendered 

 in the development of Angola, St. Thome, Principe and the 

 Cape Verde Islands. 



A short account of the facilities offered by the Companhia 



