Miscellaneous'. 



154 



[February, 1910. 



4. During the past year the number 

 of societies in the Province has risen 

 from 350 to 395 or by 13 per cent. The 

 membership has increased from 12,094 

 to 14,640 equivalent to 21 per cent., while 

 the capital has risen from Rs. 2,25,437 

 to Rs. 3,65,086 or by 62 per cent. All the 

 town societies have made considerable 

 strides during the year. There has been 

 no large increase in their number ; but 

 the co-operative spirit in them has de- 

 veloped greatly. Confidence is now 

 thoroughly established, and they are 

 financed almost entirely by share capital 

 and the deposits of their members. It 

 is anticipated that this form of co- 

 operation will spread without much 

 further assistance from the Registrar 

 amongst the mercantile firms in Calcutta 

 and the Government offices throughout 

 the Province. A new form of society 

 of an interesting type has been formed 

 under the patronage of Sir Daniel 

 Hamilton with the object of reclaiming 

 waste lands in the Sundarbans. The 

 joint capital will be employed in clear- 

 ing the jungle and raising embankments, 

 and the society will make advances to 

 its members to enable them to culti- 

 vate the land and to settle tenants 

 thereon. The progress of this society 

 will be watched with much interest. 



5. The development of co-operative 

 credit in the mofussil has reached a 

 critical stage. There are now 359 rural 

 societies, being an increase of 33 during 

 the year, and the Registrar and his 

 Personal Assistant are no longer able 

 to do more than visit each society once 

 or perhaps twice in a year. It is on 

 efficient control that the success of the 

 existing societies hinges, and their future 

 prospects depend upon the ability of 

 the Registrar to evolve a satisfactory 

 system of control. 



6. The real work of forming societies 

 and educating the members must de- 

 volve on local voluntary helpers, and 

 the Lieutenant-Governor agrees with 

 the Registrar in the opinion that un- 

 less and until it is adopted in earnest 

 by the people themselves the movement 

 will be confined within the very defi- 

 nite limits of a kindly but ineffective 

 official experiment. During the past 

 year the press has given a small measure 

 of increased attention to co-operation, 

 and there are signs that some who have 

 it in their power to assist are begin- 

 ning to realise the possibilities for good 

 which the movement possesses ; but on 

 the whole evidence of popular interest 

 has been disappointing. The second 

 condition of any substantial success is 

 the creation of some higher form of 

 organization. During the year the 



Registrar has given his attention to 

 this problem on the lines laid down 

 at the last Conference of Registrars, 

 when it was decided to aim at feder- 

 ation into unions on a joint stock basis. 

 In such unions societies are to be the 

 only shareholders, and the unions will 

 be restricted to dealings with their 

 shareholders only. Two such unions 

 were formed during the year, one at 

 Raruli in Khulna and the other at 

 Khelar in Midnapore. In the opinion 

 of the Registrar the progress made so 

 far is encouraging; and the experience 

 gained tends to prove that the combi- 

 nation of societies into unions is not 

 only theoretically sound, but is also 

 quite practicable in existing circum- 

 stances in Bengal. The Midnapore union 

 has already become financially independ- 

 ent of the help of the Registrar, and 

 can now secure funds locally without 

 any difficulty. 



7. The sources from which the work- 

 ing capital of the societies is obtained are 

 analysed in paragraph 8 of the review of 

 the statistics. Only 4 per cent, of the 

 capital has been advanced by Govern- 

 ment and the Court of Wards, 21 per cent, 

 has been advanced by large zemindars 

 to societies among their raiyats (the 

 larger part by the Maharaja Bahadur 

 of Darbhanga) ; while 48 per cent, has 

 been invested by the outside public. 

 The amount of capital invested by the 

 members and the local public is still very 

 small, amounting to only 13 per cent. 

 The Registrar should do all he can to 

 encourage members to deposit, and his 

 opinion is approved by Government that 

 it would be well to widen the basis of 

 membership so as to take in some of the 

 more well-to-do villagers, provided that 

 this can be done without pressure from 

 outside. While the success of a society 

 cannot be judged entirely from the 

 amount of money deposited by its 

 members, the fact that they have a 

 stake in it greatly increases its stability 

 and its attraction for local capital. 



8. The analysis of the purposes to 

 which loans taken from societies have 

 been applied is of interest Repayment 

 of debts accounts for 37 percent., culti- 

 vation and the purchase of cattle for 36 

 per cent., and marriage expenses for only 

 l'4per cent. It would appear, therefore, 

 that it is a sound principle to leave to 

 the discr etion of thepanchayat the pur- 

 pose for which loans can be given. The 

 important distinction is not between 

 productive and unproductive expendi- 

 ture, but between expenditure which 

 is necessary and that which is not ; and 

 thepanchayat is the best judge of what 

 is necessary, 



