376 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



England, Wales, and Scotland so large a pro- 

 portion as in Ireland and in various Continental 

 countries of those very small cultivators to whom 

 the loan of £5 or £6 from a co-operative village 

 bank would be a great personal convenience. A 

 certain demand for such facilities there un- 

 doubtedly is on the part of labourers and 

 very small producers, and such demand the 

 Co-operative Banks Association should, with 

 adequate support, be well able to meet. But 

 a wider basis of operations than this is required 

 to answer the requirements of farmers who 

 would want to borrow more substantial sums, 

 and might find it an inestimable benefit if they 

 could obtain them from a co-operative credit 

 bank. 



Still more effectually would such a bank facili- 

 tate the operations of an agricultural association, 

 which would secure loans on the individual and 

 collective credit of its members for the purchase 

 of the necessaries required by them, and receive 

 payment in such convenient instalments as might 

 be arranged. Especially could costly agricultural 

 machinery be thus obtained by an association of 

 farmers without their being required to advance 

 any capital of their own, and without, in fact, 

 their paying anything except the stipulated sums 

 for hire, by means of which the sum expended 



