THE RURAL PROBLEM 75 



alleged to be, the extraordinary achievements of Sir Horace 

 Plunkett and his fellow- workers in Ireland, among a usually 

 poor and often quite illiterate peasantry, would justify any 

 amount of optimism as to the possibilities in the more 

 favourable circumstances of England and Wales.* 



Moreover, the county councils have now, by virtue of 

 Section 49 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act of 

 1908, power to encourage and assist credit banks and other 

 co-operative societies which have as their object, or as one 

 of their objects, the provision or the profitable working of 

 small holdings or allotments ; and they may, with the 

 sanction of the Local Government Board, give grants and 

 guarantee or make advances to such societies. There is 

 no official information available as to how far this power 

 has been used. 



It is much to be desired that the Development Commission 

 should make experiments in production, such as tobacco 

 growing and beet growing, in this country. For this 

 purpose it would be necessary for them to have more money 

 to spend and also to possess executive authority, which is 

 at present in the hands of the Treasury and the public 

 department concerned. 



§2. The Agricultural Organisation Society. 



It is probable that the backwardness of England is much 

 more due to differences of conditions than to differences in 

 the 'capacity for combined action of British farmers as 

 compared with farmers abroad. When once the number of 

 small holdings becomes considerable it is reasonably certain 



* The agricultural co-operative movement in Ireland dates only 

 from the early 'nineties, yet in little more than 15 years there had heen 

 organised, through the efforts of the Irish Agricultural Society, 357 co- 

 operative dairies, with 42,404 members and a turnover of £1,726,596 ; 

 166 agricultural societies, with 12,999 members and a turnover of 

 £87,045 : 24 poultry societies, with 6,650 members and a turnover of 

 £72,595 ; there were 268 agricultural credit societies, with a membership 

 of 17,403 and turnover of £56,004 ; and 67 associations with miscel- 

 laneous objects, with 6,483 members and a turnover of £310,138. 

 The complete trade turnover of these associations for that year was 

 £2,252,380, and the membership totalled 85,939. — Evidence by Mr. G. 

 Russell before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the 

 Thrift and Credit Banks Bill, 1910. 



