3 I2 ENGLAND AND WALES 



small cultivator, the village tradesman, and the 

 labourer in the rural districts of England has 

 been abundantly proved by the eleven village 

 banks which have already been established, four 

 of them being in Leicestershire, two in Wor- 

 cestershire, two in Norfolk, and one each in 

 Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, and Leicester- 

 shire. Where these banks exist there is no 

 need for individuals of the classes mentioned to 

 resort to the professional money-lender, and 

 loans of from £2 to £10 or £20 can be readily 

 obtained by honest and deserving toilers for the 

 purchase of live-stock, fertilizers, or implements, 

 the repairing of glass-houses, and other purposes. 

 The little timely help thus granted has, in many 

 instances, been of practical service, while in every 

 case the instalments have been punctually re- 

 paid. There is room for hundreds more of such 

 village banks in England, and until they have 

 been established no complete system of agri- 

 cultural organization can be hoped for. While, 

 however, village banks of this type are calcu- 

 lated to fully meet the requirements of the 

 " small " agriculturists, they are not likely, on 

 their present basis, to answer the purposes of 

 farmers who conduct operations on a large or 

 a fairly large scale, and it is foreseen that for 

 them a different kind of agricultural credit will 



