Miscellaneous. 



252 



Prance, and Italy. In Belgium the number of these societies has increased 

 from thirty-three in 1895 to 313 in 1902 with over 15,000 members. 



Co-operative Banks have also taken a prominent place in Italy. The 

 Rural Loan Societies, Avhich were inconsiderable in number in 1892, have since 

 increased rapidly, and at the end of 1903 amounted to 1,246. Raiffeisen Banks 

 also exist to the number of 730, but no marked progress in their number appears 

 to have recently taken place. In Spain also there has in recent years been a 

 great development of co-operative credit. In France the demands for real credit 

 are met by the Credit Foncier, an institution under Government control, which 

 enables house and land-owners to raise money on mortgage at a low rate of 

 interest, with facility for repayment by an annuity including redemption of 

 the capital. This institution, which dates from the year 1852, has been very 

 successful, and its methods have been largely copied in other countries. On 

 the side of personal credit, there has been considerable activity, though not to 

 anything like the same extent as in Germany. Since 1899 the Government have 

 placed sums of money to be used as capital at the disposal of the banks, and 

 there were in all in 1903 some 1,038 institutions of one form and another for 

 the promotion of agricultural credit.— The Journal of the Board of Agriculture, 



FUTURE PROSPECTS OF IRRIGATION IN CEYLON. 

 From the Report on Irrigation By Sir John Keane. 

 With regard to the general question of paddy cultivation in the future it 

 has been said that there is an increasing tendency among the villagers to 

 cultivate less paddy and more coconuts. Existing figures certainly show that the 

 increase in coconut lands has been far greater than that of paddy lands, but 

 this is no doubt largely due to the application of European capital to the former 

 industry. The reason why the decline of paddy cidtivation is predicted is on 

 account of the small profits it returns. Many calculations have been made in this 

 respect, but they differ so widely that it is impossible to draw from them any 

 satisfactory conclusion. 



The conditions in various localities differ, however, so widely, and there are 

 so many occasional factors that may or may not arise, that it is quite impos- 

 sible to arrive at any reliable conclusion in this matter. The popularity of paddy 

 cultivation is really independent of any mere question of profit or loss. The 

 distinct and conservative spirit of the East cannot be resolved to the commercial 

 standards of the West- Where the political economist draws deductions from 

 market prices and the cost of a living wage, the Eastern often knows no 

 markets and regards it as derogatory to work for hire. He reveres paddy cultiva- 

 tion on account of its antiquity ; it possesses for him an almost sacred significance ; 

 it is attended by time-honoured ceremonies ; and the ownership of rice lands bears 

 in his eyes a cachet of respectability- In addition, moreover, to the minds of 

 many who know little or nothing of the ways of trade, who rarely handle actual 

 money, who are perplexed by a change in prices, the possession of paddy lands, 

 and thus of a self-contained food supply, carries with it a sense of security which 

 is comforting. For these reasons, therefore, apart altogether from mere consider- 

 ations of gain, the continuance and further development of this cultivation in 

 future may be expected. 



With the large areas yet unsold and with so many incomplete works the 

 policy of the present Government is to refrain from undertaking new works 

 and to develop existing ones. There is, however, one matter in this connection 



