AGRICULTURAL CREDIT 311 



proved over and over again on the Continent of 

 Europe, and though the financial position of 

 British agriculturists in general may be more 

 favourable than that of the peasantry in vari- 

 ous other countries where an easy agricultural 

 credit was established years ago, the extreme 

 desirability of such credit being available in 

 Great Britain, also, is beyond any possible 

 doubt. 



Happily, here again a good commencement 

 has been made by the Co-operative Banks 

 Association, whose headquarters are at 29, Old 

 Queen Street, Westminster, S.W. The pur- 

 pose of this association is to establish both town 

 and country co-operative banks, the former 

 being registered under the Industrial and Provi- 

 dent Societies Acts, and issuing £1 shares, paid 

 for in weekly instalments of Gd. ; while the 

 latter are registered under the Friendly Societies 

 Act, and borrow money from the Central Banks 

 Committee on the collective credit of the mem- 

 bers (as the town banks do on the credit of their 

 shares) for the purpose of making small advances 

 for productive purposes. These country co- 

 operative banks are, in fact, of that Raiffeisen 

 type which has already conferred such inestim- 

 able benefits on so many countries abroad, and 

 their adaptability to the requirements of the 



