AGRICULTURAL CREDIT BANKS 1 03 



usual rate of interest paid by central banks on deposits is 

 6 per cent., and the most usual rate charged on advances 

 to village banks 9 per cent. The latter pay from 6 to 9 per 

 cent, to depositors, and usually lend at 9 and 12^ per 

 cent. I ought to have said that shares in co-operative 

 central banks in the Punjab are largely subscribed by 

 private individuals. 



Fortunately, the Government has from the outset been 

 chary in the matter of lending to societies. I have 

 already noted how small a portion of the working capital 

 is now represented by State money. In the Punjab it is 

 less than i per cent. I think most people who know the 

 East well will agree in thinking that as regards audit, 

 inspection, and control, the attitude of the Government in 

 India must for some years to come be very different from 

 that which is befitting in Europe. I shall quote one or 

 two remarks on this subject made by two Indian gentle- 

 men at the yearly Conference of Registrars in 1912. Rai 

 Bahadur Bishn Datta Shukul said: "If we ask our 

 depositors and shareholders why they believe co-operative 

 business to be sound, they invariably show that they 

 attach tremendous importance to audit by the Registrar 

 and his staff. ... I speak for the public of the 

 Central Provinces when I say that the co-operative move- 

 ment will fail altogether unless Government continues to 

 supply a special audit staff." Rai Bahadur N. R. Kelker, 

 who also belongs to the Central Provinces, said : 



Western theories and Western practice must be modi- 

 fied to suit the requirements of the case. It will take 

 years of hard, continuous, and patient labour, both on 

 the part of officials and non-officials . . . before we 

 can hope to see an organization independent of Govern- 

 ment control and supervision. The possibilities of abuses 

 and waste due to ignorance, if not to anything else, have 

 to be avoided at any cost. ... If Government 

 control is abruptly withdrawn at this stage . . . the 

 movement as a whole will wither away. . . . Once 

 the idea gets abroad that ' independence ' is contem- 

 plated people will lose all confidence." Recent expo- 

 sures of fraudulent marriage funds and joint stock banks 

 in India have probably confirmed these two gentlemen 



