WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 227 



In 1895 Mr. Yerburgh, in the House of Commons, 

 asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, " Whether, in view 

 of the great benefits which have accrued to the poorer 

 agricultural classes of the community from the operations 

 on the Continent of the Raiffeisen system of co-operative 

 credit, as set forth in the Reports furnished to the Royal 

 Commission on Labour upon Germany and Italy, and of 

 the further fact that the Austrian Provincial Governments 

 have assisted in the development of the said system in 

 Austria, he will appoint a Commission to visit those countries 

 and take evidence on the subject " ; and, although it was 

 not considered necessary to appoint a Commission, a series 

 of reports on co-operative agricultural credit associations 

 was obtained by the Government from her Majesty's 

 representatives in various Continental countries, and duly 

 published. 



Mr. Yerburgh was also the means of bringing about 

 the appointment, in 1897, of a Select Committee on Money 

 Lending, himself being appointed a member thereon ; and 

 in the Report ultimately presented by this Committee it 

 was said : 



Your Committee have received important evidence as to the 

 operation of co-operative banks on the Continent and in some 

 parts of the United Kingdom. It appears that the establishment 

 of such banks has been of great use in abolishing, or greatly 

 diminishing, the trade of lending money at exorbitant rates of 

 interest to the poorer classes. 



Your Committee are impressed with the extreme usefulness 

 of these institutions, and they are of opinion that they must 

 meet a real want, especially in agricultural districts. 



Mr. Yerburgh also induced the Small Holdings Committee 

 of 1905, of which he was a member, to include the following 

 in their Report : 



They are further of opinion that in view of the great advantage 

 offered to the small holders by the employment of the form of 

 credit known by the name of its founder, Raiffeisen, some system 

 should be adopted such as that advocated by the Agricultural 

 Organisation Society, and put forward by Mr. Sutton Nelthorpe 

 in his evidence, under which an advance from the Post Office 



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