May, 1912.] 



437 Agricultural Finance & Co-operation. 



adequate common fund by a special 

 subscription in order to engage teachers 

 for the children. Mr. Fremantle is un- 

 questionably right when he says that 

 co-operative credit societies will be a 

 potent factor in the extension of primary 

 education. Their moral influence is also 

 utilised for the good of the weaker 

 brethren. In Uuao and Benaies, it 

 appears, several of the Parsi and 

 Chamar societies have foresworn the use 

 of intoxicating liquor. A Khatik society 

 held a panchayat to consider the case of 

 the sarpanch, who was frequently in- 

 toxicated, and upon his pledging himself 

 to offend no more he was given another 

 chance of reformation. Several cases 

 are, moreover, cited where the panchayat 

 have kept a person of doubtful character 

 waiting many months for admission, and 

 have only allowed him to join on being 

 convinced that he was genuinely deter- 

 mined to abandon his evil ways. Another 

 important fact in relation to the move- 

 ment is that the panchayat as a rule re- 

 presents all castes and classes of culti- 

 vators. " The potential value to Govern- 

 ment and to the community as a whole 

 of the presence of such a body in a 

 village," Mr, Fremantle remarks, "is 

 immense. Education, sanitation, medical 

 relief, arbitration and the encourage- 

 ment of village corporate life, are all 

 matters in which it can render very 

 great assistance." The results already 

 attained in the various Provinces em- 

 phasise the vital importance of extend- 

 ing the co-operative credit movement on 

 right lines. Great progress has un- 

 doubtedly been made, but if the move- 

 ment is to effect the economic regenera- 

 tion of India the utmost care must be 

 taken to avoid mistakes and to enlist 

 the active help of the educated com. 

 munity. Where this assistance has been 

 forthcoming it has proved of the greatest 

 service, and those who have taken part 

 in the formation of societies on a sound 

 basis have done good work for the 

 country. In the Government Resolution 

 on the present Report a high tribute is 

 paid to Mr. Fremantle for the diffi- 

 culties he has surmounted, and it is 

 observed that those acquainted with the 



intensely conservative habits of the 

 Indian cultivator will realise that the 

 measure of success in the United Pro- 

 vinces already secured could only have 

 been attained by constant tact and 

 perseverance. 



AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATIVE 

 CREDIT SOCIETIES IN ENGLAND 

 AND WALES. 



(From the Journal of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, Vol. XVIII., No. 9, 

 December, 1912.) 



The article deals only with co-oper- 

 ative Societies which concern themselves 

 solely with the provision of loans of 

 money to small agriculturists, and takes 

 no account either of societies which 

 make loans to dwellers in towns or of 

 societies which may add the business of 

 making advances to members to their 

 main object of agricultural production, 

 distribution or supply. 



It is possible to form an Agricultural 

 Co-operative Credit Society under the 

 Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 

 with Shares and share-capital and limit- 

 ed liability, but as a matter of fact, all 

 the societies of this character now in 

 existence in England and Wales have 

 been registered under the Friendly 

 Societies Act, 1896, and the special 

 authority granted by the Treasury in 

 accordance with Section 8 (5) of the Act. 

 A society registered under that Author- 

 ity must have for its object the creation 

 of funds by monthly or other subscrip- 

 tions, to be lent out to, or invested for, 

 members of the society, or for their 

 benefit, and must have in its rules pro- 

 visions that no part of its funds shall 

 be divided by way of profit, bonus, 

 dividend, or otherwise, among its mem- 

 bers, and that all money lent to members 

 shall be applied to such purpose as the 

 society or its committee of management 

 may approve, 



There is nothing in the Friendly Socie- 

 ties Act to prevent the registration of 

 a society in which the liability of the 

 members for the debts of the society ia 

 limited to a fixed sum in each case (or 



