344 [April, 1912, 



AGRICULTURAL FINANCE AND CO-OPERATION. 



CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT FOR THE 

 COLONY. 



(From the Journal of the Board of Agri- 

 culture of British Guiana, Vol. V., 



No. 2, October, 1911.) 

 It is with some little satisfaction that 

 we are able to record that the principle 

 of co-operation is at length to have a full 

 trial in British Guiana. Readers of the 

 Journal will perhaps remember our 

 articles dealing with various phases of 

 this important subject: "Some Local 

 Aspects of Co-operation," (January, 

 1910), " Mutual Insurance of Live Stock," 

 (April, 1910), "Agricultural Banks and 

 Co-operative Societies," (July, 1909), 

 " Agricultural Banks and Government 

 Aid," (April, 1909), and will give us credit 

 for having persistently kept the topic 

 in the foreground. The practical realiz- 

 ation of the principle the colony owes 

 to its Governor, Sir F. M. Hodgson. He 

 appointed two Committees, the first of 

 the Combined Court to consider the 

 subject, and the second of a more general 

 nature guided by the recommendations 

 of the first ; and this latter Committee, 

 presided over by His Excellency himself, 

 has formulated a scheme which deserves 

 the fullest trial. We do not propose to 

 discuss the report of either Committee ; 

 politics as such are not within the pur- 

 view of this Journal; but the text of the 

 second report is so clear, so sympathetic, 

 so interesting in its grasp of the real 

 problems involved, and promises soon to 

 be of such historical interest, that we 

 reproduce it here verbatim. It will be 

 seen that the chief points decided on are 

 the extension of credit to other than 

 purely agricultural purposes, the rejec- 

 tion of the principle of unlimited liabil- 

 ity (which is the heart and soul of the 

 Raiffeisen system), the adoption of 

 Government aid and Government super- 

 vision, benefit to Co-operative members 

 only, interest at 12 %, and the establish- 

 ment of a Co-operative Credit Banks 

 Board. With this preface we can let 

 the report speak for itself. " We have 

 very carefully considered the question of 



establishing Agricultural Loan Banks, 

 or, as we prefer to call them, Co-oper- 

 ative Credit Banks, in British Guiana; 

 and from the evidence placed before us 

 and from enquiries we have made, we 

 are unanimous in recommending the 

 establishment of such Banks as not only 

 desirable but necessary in the best 

 interests of the colony. 



" We endorse what was stated by the 

 Governor in his Minute dated the 11th 

 January, 1911, which was presented to 

 us on the opening day of the enquiry, 

 viz., ' The value of Agricultural Loan 

 or Co-operative Credit Banks is that 

 they open sources of credit to the hum- 

 blest individual ; they stimulate co-oper- 

 ation, reduce the price of money, break 

 down and perhaps stamp out altogether 

 the baneful business of the usurer, teach 

 business habits by inculcating fore- 

 thought and calculation, stimulate an 

 interest in work and encourage thrift. 

 They are, in fact, if properly and care- 

 fully worked, valuable educational and 

 moral factors.' 



"We think that the title 'Co-oper- 

 ative Credit Bank' is to be preferred to 

 that of 'Agricultural Loan Bink,' be- 

 cause the latter implies that the oper- 

 ations of the Bank are limited to agricul- 

 tural pursuits, whereas, in the event of 

 the Legislature deciding to give effect to 

 our proposals, the operations of the 

 Banks to be established will not neces- 

 sarily be confined to loans to farmers 

 and others engaged in agriculture, Piim- 

 arily no doubt the Banks will be used 

 for assisting farmers, but they will also 

 be available for loans for other approved 

 industrial objects making for the benefit 

 of the individuals concerned. 



'•Having decided that the establish- 

 ment of Co-operative Credit Banks was 

 necessary, the next matter for our con- 

 sideration was the kind of Bank likely 

 to be most suitable to the needs of the 

 people of the colony— the Bank most 

 likely to find favour and therefore to do 

 the greatest amount of good. There are 

 two kinds of Banks established in other 



