oolxxxvi 



system of semi-slasrery has broken down and that a change is absolutely 

 necessary. Why should the Dutch fear an influx of English planters ? 

 They would soon make the mountains of Java what the mountains 

 of deylon are, to the detriment not of the Dntch but English Colony]/' 



(9) Description of a Swiss Land Credit Banlc. 



An extract from a paper reid to the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of 

 Ireland, hy Mr. M. O^Brien, i^rinted as Appendix A to the Third Report of 

 the Royal Commission to inquire into the depression of Trade and Industry 

 (1886). 



The demand for legislation to facilitate the lending of public money 

 on small plots of land in Ireland makes a description of the constitution 

 and operation of a Continental Land Credit Bank of some interest. 



Mr. H. D. MacLeod, in his lectures on credit and banking, says — 

 ' ' Many banks in Central Europe have been founded for the purpose of 

 making advances to cultivate land, and a very large portion of the advance 

 in agriculture during the last 130 years has been due to them." 



The provisions of the French Civil Code, the principles of which 

 have been adopted in many other countries, make land a suitable 

 security for bankers' loans, which it is not under English law. 



In the report of the Eoyal Commission of 1857 on registration of 

 titles, the following sentence (p. 46) occurs, and is applicable to land as 

 banking security : — 



" It has been well said that the greatest condemnation of the existing 

 system of lending money on land is the reluctance which bankers, the natural 

 traders in loans, have to lend on mortgage or judgment. The security which 

 they refuse, careless trustees, ignorant people who have savings, and widows 

 and others who have, some small provision, are advised to accept, and in 

 this way the whole risk of bad security is thrown on the classes least able to 

 bear it." 



The Land Credit Bank of the State of Vaud {Caisse hypothecaire can- 

 tonate, Vaudoise) was established for the purpose of granting advances 

 on the security of real property to the agricultural classes. As the 

 entire canton is owned and occupied in very small parcels, the advan- 

 tages of the bank extended to the whole community. The control and 

 management of the bank is in the hands of the following three 

 bodies : — 



(1) A council of 20, of whom 10 members are named by the 



executive government and 10 are elected by the bank 

 shareholders with a President, who must be a member of 

 the G-overnment ; the council meets at least once in six 

 months. 



(2) A committee of supervision, consisting of the President of 



council, and 4 members named by the council, meeting 

 at least twice a month. 



(3) A directorate, consisting of a chief director^ 2 managers, 



and 2 assistants ; they meet at the chief office at least 

 three times a week, and must not be related to each other. 

 The Secretary of the bank is selected by the Grovernment 

 from among the permanent officials of the State. 



