Miscellaneous. 



148 



[Feb: 1908. 



except where navigable rivers provided 

 a waterway, the whole merchandise of 

 India was conveyed on pack-bullocks, or 

 baggage-camels. Let us consider the 

 cotton of Berar and the Central Pro- 

 vinces. Bullocks carrying loads of a 

 couple of hundredweight of cotton, 

 used to march the whole of the four 

 hundred miles to Bombay through 

 districts where the animals suffered 

 from drought, and through hills where 

 robbers pillaged the cotton. We can 

 realise that the cultivator did not grow 

 rich on his share of the price finally 

 obtained. Even after the American war 

 had raised the price over two shillings to 

 the pound, the exports of these provinces 

 amounted only to 270,000 bales, while in 

 1905, with a price of 4|d. per lb., the 

 exports had increased by 900,000 bales, 

 and the cultivation by 3,000,000 acres. 

 Of changes in the methods of production 

 no record is available, but the statistics 

 show that an acre of cotton represented 

 an export of 60 lbs. of lint in 1866 and of 

 100 lbs. in 1905, and, however little 

 reliance we may be disposed to place in 

 statistics there are clear indications that 

 a great advance in agricultural efficiency 

 coincided with the development due to 

 the construction of roads and railways. 



To the results of irrigation I will refer 

 later on, but here, as an instance of an 

 important change. I would quote the 

 production of wheat on areas which 

 have been reclaimed from the desert in 

 the Punjab and Sind. Ten years ago 

 India was not recognised as a source of 

 supply for wheat for Europe ; three 

 years ago she exported over 2,000,000 

 tons, almost wholly the produce of the 

 irrigation canals, and furnished this 

 country with a quarter of her total pro- 

 vision of wheat. 



CO OPERATIVE CREDIT SOCIETIES 

 IN BENGAL. 



In the opinion of the Lieutenant- 

 Governor, as expressed in the Resolution 

 recently published, Co-operative Credit 

 Societies in Bengal have reached a stage 

 in which it is necessary to make arrange- 

 ments for their future organisation. 

 This conclusion does not imply that the 

 movement has as yet attained large pro- 

 portions. The fact is that " in the past 

 three years nothing more than a com- 

 mencement has been made." Out of a 

 population of 55 millions less than 15,000 

 families are even now associated with 

 these beneficent institutions. But the 

 Societies are multiplying to such an 

 extent as to make it evident that the 

 Registrar will no longer be able to ex- 

 ercise personal control over all of them. 



It may be asked why an additional 

 Registrar should not be appointed. 

 Doubtless this step will be taken if 

 necessary, but the very essence of the 

 Co-operative Society movement is that 

 official control should be reduced to the 

 narrowest limit. Most of the Bengal 

 Societies are modelled upon those found- 

 ed by Raiffeisen and Schulze Delitzsch, 

 the German reformers, who by means of 

 co-operation rescued thousands of the 

 artisans and the peasants of thei r country 

 from the toils of the usurer. It is of 

 little avail to introduce into Bengal the 

 organisation devised by these men unless 

 the spirit of their systems is also in 

 some measure present. Now, though 

 Raiffeisen and Schulze Delitzsch differed 

 in some respects, they were agreed in 

 repudiating State intervention and in 

 rejecting State aid. The truth is that 

 help given by the Government to those 

 whose chief need is to learn how to help 

 themselves is injurious and even demor- 

 alising. Unfortunately in this country 

 the Government were compelled to start 

 the movement because India had pro- 

 duced no Raiffeisen or Schulze Delitzsch 

 willing to devote himself to the deliver- 

 ance of the ryot from the money-lender. 

 The lack of such men is still felt. "The 

 great want," writes Sir Andrew Fraser, 

 " is local organisers,— men resident in the 

 districts, with an intimate knowledge 

 of, and sympathy with, the people, who 

 are themselves firm believers in the 

 principles of co-operative credit. At 

 present three such men have come for- 

 ward, but at least one local organiser is 

 needed in every district." It is not easy 

 to understand why Bengal should have 

 produced only three men willing to serve 

 their country in this way. It possesses 

 patriotism enough and to spare, and we 

 have frequently heard that it is the duty 

 of the patriot in these days to desist 

 from talking and to work. Here is an 

 opportunity of increasing enormously 

 the prosperity of the country, not by 

 adding to the wealth of a few, but by 

 assisting every ryot to escape from the 

 clutches of the usurer and to acquire a 

 modest independence. Yet three men 

 only have come forward to help. Such 

 a condition of things seems almost in- 

 explicable. Possibly the part taken by 

 Government in starting the Societies has 

 given the impression that they are 

 State institutions, and unhappily there 

 are many who will hold aloof from any 

 enterprise which bears the official stamp. 

 But it must be abundantly clear by this 

 time that the Government are genuinely 

 anxious to avoid all needless interference 

 with this movement and to leave the 

 people to their own devices. Sir Andrew 

 Eraser's resolution gives fresh proof of 



