A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAMME 223 



only the dairies but the sale of the butter and 

 cheese ; and the peasants find their own labours 

 have decreased in proportion as their profits have 

 augmented. In 1899 the fruit growers formed 

 a combination to organize the joint export of 

 their produce. Other associations deal with the 

 insurance of live-stock, these being supplemented 

 by a federation for re-insurance. 



The most important factor in the general 

 situation was, however, brought about when the 

 House of Representatives passed a further law 

 authorizing the Government of the Grand 

 Duchy, on the application of the Communal 

 Councils, to establish Agricultural Credit Banks 

 from which the local associations could obtain 

 loans up to £ 40 each, at 5 per cent, interest, for 

 periods not exceeding three years. In this way 

 the peasants were often enabled to at once take 

 advantage of agricultural improvements which 

 otherwise would have been beyond their means. 



The Government also appointed a commission 

 of experts to watch over and extend the work 

 carried on in the experimental and demonstra- 

 tion fields already set up by various associations, 

 and to furnish reports on that work to the 

 agricultural journals in the interests of the 

 whole fanning community. The commission 

 was further charged with the task of popu- 



