86 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 



with a central organisation at Utrecht ; but in the south of 

 Holland the Roman Catholic clergy have founded separate 

 societies and separate banks for Roman Catholics only. In 

 Italy at the end of 1911 there were 1,855 rural banks and 

 agricultural co-operative societies of collective title. In 

 Switzerland in 1910 there were 139 local credit associations, 

 with 10,024 members,* now increased to 195. 



In Italy there are 740 banks on the Luzzatti plan (these 

 lend rather to the larger and medium agriculturists) ; and 

 for the rural banks proper (casse rurali) the figure is 2,003. 



There are now some 46 registered credit societies in 

 England and Wales, with S00 members and a total turnover 

 of about £2,000. Only 21 of these societies granted loans 

 during 1912, the total amount of the loans being £1,400. In 

 1910 the loans aggregated £1,390, they varied from £5 to 

 £40, and averaged £12 per loan.f The smallness of their 

 progress in comparison with that of similar societies in other 

 countries, is, of course, very marked. But it must be re- 

 membered that in Germany it took 25 years to form the 

 first 5 credit banks, whereas in England the A.O.S. has 

 formed 35 in 11 years, and the movement here may be 

 said to have now passed out of the experimental stage. 



* The most rapid strides have been made in India, as is shown by 



India from 1901-02 to 1910-11 



f Small Holdings Report, Part I., 1911. 



% Cd. 7078. 



