Oct. 190(5.] 



335 



Miscellaneous. 



recusancy, unable to pay, they are not pressed, and of the profits of the business, 

 probably the greater portion exist only on paper. In obedience to village custom, 

 the money lender is bound to advance money in many cases in which he knows that 

 a bad debt is a moral certainty. 



If co-operation is to be of any bereft t, the society must for its members 

 replace the bania not only with advances for seed grain, bullocks and manure, 

 but also in their thousand and one other financial requirements. No one will 

 willingly join a society where the benefits are confined to these minor matters, for 

 by so doing he at once cuts his hereditary connection with his mon3y lender, and 

 cannot, consequently, raise elsewhere than from the society absolutely necessary 

 accommodation for other expenditure. Until co-operative societies are prepared to 

 replace the bania, not only with loans for reproductive, but also for legitimate and 

 necessary, but unreproductive, expenditure, they will fail of their ultimate object, 

 which is to extricate the agriculturist from the burden of ancestral and perpetual 

 indebtedness. 



It is very generally assumed that this course will result in risky business, 

 and that the cheapness of loans will induce even greater extravagance than at 

 present on festivities connected with marriages, funeral and other domestic and 

 social events. The opposite may be expected to be the case where the loans are 

 granted by co-operative societies to their members. In these societies each and 

 every member of the institution, including the members of the punchayat, is 

 responsible for all loans granted to members. The punchayat will, therefore, exercise 

 peculiar care in making loans for unreproductive purposes. It may be that a culti- 

 vator will come to the punchayat and ask for a loan of Rs. 200 wherewith to 

 marry his daughter. The punchayat knows his social position and his circumstances, 

 and decides that Rs. 50 is an appropriate sum to advance for the purpose, and 

 grants that sum. The cultivator accepts it, goes to his fellow caste-men, and 

 though in his heart rejoicing at the curtailment of his expenditure, he explains 

 that he was prepared to spend the larger sum, but that the punchayat refused to 

 allow him the accommodation. He thus saves his pocket and his izzat at the same 

 time. Had the society been debarred from advaucing loans for purposes of marriage 

 expenditure, the cultivator would probably have obtained the money from the local 

 money lender at the expense of his connection with co-operative credit and at an 

 exorbitant rate of interest. He would probably also have carried the burden of 

 debt for the rest of his life, and handed it as a legacy to his successor. On the 

 principle, therefore, that as much as possible should be left to the local committee of 

 management, the objects for which loans may be granted have been left to its deter- 

 mination. The result will be carefully watched, though there is at present no sign 

 that the latitude left to that body will be abused. — (By J. H. Simpson, Registrar of 

 Co-Operative Credit Societies, U. P. India.) 



(To be continued.) 



The Kurunegaa Agri-Horticultural Show, 1906. 



Report on Classes A, B, C, and D. 



Class A, Flowering Plants in Pots.— It was very disappointing to find that 

 out of twenty prizes offered only three were competed for, and only one entry for 

 each of these. The drought can hardly account for this. 



Class B, Cut Flowers.— The space allotted to this class was insufficient, 

 and the exhibits were somewhat cramped. Most of the flowers were good, but 

 there was practically no competition, and only six prizes out of the fifteen were 

 awarded. A good bloom of Marecbal Niel Rose was awarded a special prize. 

 Show boxes should be used. 



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