August, 1910.] 



135 Agricultural Finance & Co-operation. 



with capital raised in Europe. Ex- 

 perience has shown the defects of this 

 system, and it is now proposed to form 

 in the villages co-operative organisations 

 with which the Bank can deal directly. 

 In his able exposition of the objections 

 to the formation of a bank for Bengal on 

 the lines of the Agricultural Bank of 

 Egypt, Mr. Gourlay laid stress on the 

 daugers which might follow a decline 

 in the value of Egyptian land. That 

 warning was well-founded, and in order 

 to find a remedy for the difficulties 

 which have arisen, it is proposed to 

 resort to the system which has proved 

 so beneficial to the Indian ryot. 



THE PROGRESS OF CO-OPERATIVE 

 CREDIT. 



(From the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 

 XXXV., No. 6, June, 1910.) 

 The Resolution of the Government of 

 India on the co-operative credit move- 

 ment consists in the main of facts and 

 figures which have already been pub- 

 lished; indeed the statistics cited in 

 illustration of the growth of the societies 

 appeared last year, and they are quoted 

 in the third edition of Mr. Henry W. 

 Wolff's standard work on People's 

 Banks," recently issued by Messrs. King 

 of Westminster. The problems referred 

 to in the Resolution are also discussed 

 by Mr. Wolff, who vividly describes the 

 progress which the co-operative credit 

 movement has made throughout the 

 world during the past decade. The new 

 edition of " People's Banks " comes at an 

 opportune moment. Mr. Wolff is an 

 enthusiast, his knowledge of the subject 

 is unrivalled, and the work he has 

 accomplished in popularising the idea of 

 co-operative credit is worthy of the 

 highest praise. The second edition of 

 the work was published in 1897, and the 

 writer triumphantly remarks that 

 figures then quoted appear small by the 

 side of those which relate to the present 

 position. In Germany alone the huge 

 sum of £240,000,000 was lent out by co- 

 operative credit banks in 1908, and with- 

 in the past few years, to use the 

 language of Mr. Wolff, " wide stretches 

 of new country have been laid under 

 subjection." The material advantages 

 resulting from the system have been no 

 less striking than the moral reforms 

 achieved. A German priest frankly con- 

 fesses that the new village bank has 

 done more to raise the moral tone of his 

 parishioners than all his ministrations. 

 Similar testimony comes from rural 

 Italy, where the self-re3pect and conduct 

 of the people have improved as a result 

 of the opportunities of elevating their 



social and economic statues provided by 

 the co-operative bank. Mr. Wolff natu- 

 rally regards with profound satisfaction 

 the rapid progress of the movement in 

 India- He is of opinion that here, too, 

 the educative effect of co-operation is 

 even more gratifying than the financial 

 success achieved. The establishment of 

 co-operative credit associations in the 

 villages has brought home to the ryot 

 the disadvantages of illiteracy and, as in 

 Italy, it has caused a demand for the 

 advantages of the education. The 

 Government might, Mr. Wolff suggests, 

 cause co-operative principles to be 

 taught in elementary schools, a course 

 which has been adopted in ether coun- 

 tries with beneficial results. He also 

 pays a high tribute to the Registrars, 

 " some of whom have in contrast with 

 organisers acting in England, made it 

 their special task, as soon as appointed, 

 to quality themselves thoroughly for 

 their poses by mastering the whole 

 practice of co-operative credit by study 

 and observation in the principal Euro- 

 pean centres." The problem as to 

 whether the Government of India might 

 with advantage extend the assistance it 

 lends to the movement by providing 

 capital on a large scale, is one which has 

 been answered in the negative by 

 authorities who cannot be accused of 

 want of sympathy with the end it is 

 sought to attain. Mr. Wolff, too, is 

 emphatic on this point. The movement 

 can only succeed, he contends, if based 

 on self-reliance and independence. So 

 far its progress has been phenomenal 

 and has provided a remedy for distress 

 and backwardness of greater utility 

 thau State tutelage or State financing 

 could have produced." There is strong 

 evidence in support of this view. It is 

 one thing to lend money to the ryot 

 indiscriminately, and quite another to 

 teach him the value of credit, and to 

 awaken his power of thought and sense 

 of responsibility. This latter function is 

 being admirably performed by the co- 

 operative credit society, in the efficient 

 management of which the members have 

 a direct personal interest. And, as the 

 Resolution of the Government of India 

 points out, the confidence felt in the 

 society is enabling them to obtain 

 money in the outside money market. In 

 Burma, as we recently showed, the 

 Bank of Rangoon has undertaken to 

 finance the local societies, and impor- 

 tant movements to a similar end are in 

 operation or in course of arrangement 

 in other provinces. The problem of 

 supervision is a more serious matter. 

 In the Circular issued after the con- 

 ference of Registrars held at Simla 

 in 1908, the Government expressed the 



