130 ORGANISATION 



only in the last few years that agencies have come 

 into existence which aim at supplying implements 

 superior to those which the village carpenter and 

 blacksmith can make, or seed better than can be 

 secured by the casual methods with which the farmers 

 have hitherto been content. The establishment of 

 such agencies may be regarded as a milestone on the 

 road of agricultural progress, and there is ample room 

 for developments of this kind on the part of private 

 firms. Such developments are bound to come in the 

 near future, and deserve every encouragement ; but 

 the most striking progress in this respect that has 

 been achieved is due to the co-operative movement, 

 which has made such rapid strides in India during 

 recent years. It was only in 1904 that an effort was 

 made to introduce into India the system of co-opera- 

 tive credit which had proved so successful in parts of 

 Europe, but it was soon evident that the movement 

 was one which contained the elements of success for 

 India, and by 1910 no less than 152 rural co-operative 

 credit societies had been established in the Bombay 

 Presidency, with a membership of 10,000 and a work- 

 ing capital of Rs.4 lakhs. By 1920 the number of 

 agricultural co-operative societies in the Bombay 

 Presidency had increased to 2000 with a membership 

 of 150,000, a working capital of well over Rs.l crore 

 and a reserve fund of Rs.7-J lakhs. It will be realised 

 from these figures that the co-operative movement 

 is now beginning to have a real influence on the re- 

 sources of cultivators as a whole. In some tracts its 



