76 THE RURAL PROBLEM 



that co-operation will spread much more rapidly than it 

 has done hitherto, if only because the small holder cannot 

 achieve any considerable results without an extensive 

 adoption of the policy of combined action with his fellows. 

 The main need at the present moment is to ensure that the 

 advantages of co-operation are clearly and adequately 

 brought to the notice of agriculturists and that skilled 

 assistance in the initial stages of the formation of societies 

 is forthcoming. How is this need being met ? 



For some years the work of education and organisation 

 has been carried on chiefly by the Agricultural Organisation 

 Society, with the assistance of a Government grant,* but the 

 passing of the Development Act has caused a change in the 

 situation. It was proposed by the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries that the administration of the large grant 

 which the Development Commissioners are prepared to 

 allocate for the promotion of agricultural co-operation 

 should be placed in the hands of the Board, to be by them 

 handed over by way of grants in aid to county councils 

 who were willing to appoint organisers to advise the small 

 holders in the country on the best methods of purchasing 

 their requirements and marketing their produce. + The 

 Development Commissioners have, however, decided that 

 the grant should be made to the Agricultural Organisation 

 Society, strengthened and reconstituted to meet their 

 increased responsibilities to the State. The society has 

 been reformed and registered under Section 20 of the Com- 

 panies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, under licence by the 

 Board of Trade. This section possesses certain constitu- 

 tional advantages over registration under the Industrial 

 and Provident Societies Act, under which the former society 

 \v;is registered when it was a purely propagandist body. 

 Provision is made in the Memorandum and Articles of 

 Association for the preservation as heretofore of the volun- 

 tary character of the society and for the appointment of a 

 larger governing body, which will contain representatives 



* The first grant was £1,200, and was made from the Small Holdings 

 Account in 1000. 



I See Tart I. of the Report of the Small Holdings and Allotments 

 Act, etc.. for 1911. 



