Miscellaneous. 



262 



[September, 1909. 



actual extent of the movement, but the 

 evidence afforded that the principles of 

 co-operation are gaining hold of the 

 people. The number of rural societies has 

 almost doubled in twelve months, rising 

 from 165 to 326. Their membership has 

 at the same time grown from 6,903 to 

 11,076, and their assets likewise have 

 more than doubled, the total now being 

 Rs. 1,95,409 as compared with Rs. 85,740 

 with which the year began. This pro- 

 gress does not, however, represent the 

 potentialities of the movement. In the 

 opinion of the Registrar, Mr. Buchan, 

 " the number of societies could be enor- 

 mously increased in a very short time. 5 ' 

 Why, then, it may be asked, does this 

 increase not come about ? The answer 

 is one which needs to be impressed on 

 the minds of the large class of men in 

 Bengal who have both the means and 

 the leisure for public service. The ex- 

 pansion cf the Co-operative movement 

 is checked mainly by the lack of suitable 

 means of controlling and organising the 

 Societies as they ar^e formed. The 

 machinery which the Government can 

 provide for the purpose is strained to 

 the utmost. The Registrar, having 

 nearly 400 Societies under his charge, 

 can necessarily give only a limited 

 attention to each, and, while the Govern- 

 ment are willing to assist by appointing 

 a certain number of local inspecting 

 clerks — of whom there are now ten— 

 this form of help must obviously be 

 restricted to areas in which the move- 

 ment is making rapid progress. What 

 is wanted, then, is a large number of 

 competent honorary organisers. The 

 number of these benefactors has risen 

 from three to eight in the course of the 

 past year, and it is acknowledged in 

 the Government Resolution on the sub- 

 ject that they have " rendered the 

 greatest assistance." But their ranks 

 need to be largely recruited, and we 

 are loth to think that a work of such 

 incalculable usefulness to their poorer 

 countrymen will be left to languish for 

 want of an adequate number of public- 

 spirited helpers in Bengal. Would that 

 half the energy expended upon the 

 Boycott had been devoted to this sure 

 and safe means of increasing the wealth 

 and happiness of the community ! There 

 is a stimulating lesson for the zemindars 

 and other leading men of this Province 

 in the career of Raiffeisen, the philan- 

 thropist, whose labours lifted a large 

 part of rural Germany from a condition 

 of pitiable indebtedness to one of inde- 

 pendence and prosperity. Raiffeisen 

 was not a wealthy man. On the con- 

 trary he is described as having been of 

 slight estate, of very poor health, with 

 no particular property, but of unbounded 



energy. He was forced by ill-health to 

 retire from the public service in 1860. 

 Though sick and nearly blind, he then 

 devoted the remainder of his life to 

 this work, dying iu 1888 after his so- 

 cieties had been thoroughly established 

 on a successful basis. He had to deal 

 with conditions closely resembling those 

 which prevail in India. A peasantry 

 struggling to keep body and soul to- 

 gether was in the grip of a remorse- 

 less system of usury. Confidence, 

 thrift, and self-help had died out. 

 Prom these unpromising circumstances 

 Raiffeisen evolved courage, prosperity, 

 and independence, by the scheme of 

 popular banks that will be for all 

 time associated with his name. It is 

 this same scheme which is now proving 

 so successful in Bengal. But Raiffeisens 

 are required to foster and direct the 

 working of the system in new areas ; 

 and the appeal for the aid of competent 

 men ought not to be in vain. As an 

 additional method of supplying the 

 necessary control over the societies, it 

 is proposed to combine them in local 

 unions, and the experiment which is to 

 be made in this direction in the coming 

 cold weather should be a very interest- 

 ing test of the capacity of the societies 

 for mutual control and of their readiness 

 for evolution from their present condi- 

 tion of so many isolated units into one 

 great and thoroughly organised co- 

 operative system. The increasing con- 

 fidence of the people in co-operative 

 principles is shown not only by the 

 actual and potential expansion of the 

 movement, but by the readiness of 

 investors to supply the necessary capital, 

 and the willingness of the societies to 

 contribute a substantial share. Forty- 

 five per cent, of the capital now comes 

 from investors and thirteen per cent, 

 from the societies themselves. The one 

 weak point in the finance of the new 

 movement is that local capitalists have 

 not* yet been attracted in sufficient 

 numbers by the field of investment 

 which it offers. The Government take 

 the view that the rate of interest offered 

 is not too low ; but it would be prudent, 

 we think, to await Mr. Gourlay's survey 

 of the rates generally prevailing in the 

 Province before a final opinion is pro- 

 nounced. The rate of interest offered 

 by some of the societies, for example, 

 is only 6 per cent., whereas the lowest 

 rate charged by money lenders is 18| per 

 cent, and the most common rate is 31|. 

 It is not, of course, suggested that these 

 high rates should be taken as models, 

 for the very object of the Societies is to 

 avoid anything approaching to usury. 

 But it will probably be found that, if 

 local capital is to be secured, interest 



