August, 1911.] 



149 Agricultural Finance & Co-operation. 



the Association of the Popular Banks, 

 which was founded in Rome in 1876, and 

 is principally a propagandist body. In 

 1870 the number of popular banks exist- 

 ing in Italy was about 50 ; at the present 

 time there are about nine hundred with 

 a total capital of £10,000,000, and with 

 more than half a million members. 



Rural Banks.— -The rural banks com- 

 plete in the country the work of the 

 popular banks in urban centres. The 

 first of the rural banks was founded at 

 Loreggia in 1883. In ten years their 

 number had grown to 129, and to-day, 

 it is stated, that there are about 1,800 

 of these banks existing in Italy, of 

 which about 1,300 have been founded 

 by Catholics, while 500 are neutral in 

 religion. 



The rural banks, which by their Con- 

 stitution can deal only with their mem- 

 bers, have for their principal object the 

 provision of capital to the peasants 

 (small freeholders, farmers and me- 

 tayers) for their different requirements, 

 without excluding loans for purposes of 

 consumption, or those not directly de- 

 voted to agricultural purposes. They 

 have no capital of their own, or at least 

 no initial capital, but they receive 

 savings deposits ; and only when these 

 are insufficient do they borrow che 

 necessary capital from other institutions 

 (such as popular banks and savings 

 banks,) or have recourse to private 

 people who have disposable capital. 

 The loans are made at an interest slight- 

 ly higher than the ordinary interest paid 

 on deposits or on money borrowed by 

 the society. This little difference serves 

 for the expenses ot management and 

 for the constitution of a reserve fund, 

 capable of placing the bank in a condi- 

 tion of comparative independence and 

 of greater stability. The services of 

 the officials are gratuitous. 



The reserve fund, in case of dissolu- 

 tion, is devoted to purposes of public 

 utility. The maximum period of repay- 

 ment is fixed by the rules, but there 

 are two kinds of loans ; the first of 

 relatively short duration, not extend- 

 ing over a period of more than two 

 years ; the others with a longer duration, 

 extending even to ten years. Loans of 

 the first kind are generally renewed 

 every three or six months ; those of the 

 second kind are repaid by instalments 

 which include the interest. 



Of the 500 non-Catholic banks, 130 

 belong to the National Federation of 

 Italian Rural Banks, which was founded 

 in Padua in 1887. It has its head- 

 quarters now in Rome, and its object is 

 to unite the Italian rural banks "in one 



single federation, to encourage their 

 diffusion, facilitate their development, 

 to care for and protect their interests 

 in every way." The Federation assists 

 affiliated branches with advice, and in 

 their negotiations with larger insti- 

 tutions, and also in the purchase of 

 agricultural requirements, and, when 

 requested, it conducts inspections and 

 examines their accounts. It sends out 

 lecturers on agricultural subjects, co- 

 operation and thrift, and conducts ex- 

 periments in the use of chemical 

 manures. The Catholic rural banks are 

 nearly all united in regional and pro- 

 vincial or diocesan federations, and they 

 are almost all registered in the Italian 

 Federation of Catholic Rural Banks 

 which was recently formed at Bologna. 



Other Institutions.— The agricultural 

 banks of the district of Parma are some- 

 what different from those above des- 

 cribed, but rather on account of their 

 different historical origin than any 

 difference in economic principles. They 

 are of a non-sectarian character, and 

 are intended to benefit agriculture ; 

 hence they lend to applicants only 

 when they have assured themselves of 

 the agricultural purpose of the credit 

 asked tor. The banks of the district of 

 Parma are eleven in all, and they belong 

 to the ''Federation of Agricultural Banks 

 of the Parma Apennines," and deal with 

 the Savings Bank of Parma ; they thus 

 act as intermediary institutions of this 

 bank in its credit operations with the 

 farmers. 



The Bank of Naples is authorised by 

 law to do agricultural credit business in 

 the provinces of Southern Italy and in 

 the Island of Sardinia with legally 

 constituted societies and institutions, 

 preferably these of a co-operative 

 character. Similarly, the Bank of Sicily 

 is authorised to do business through the 

 medium of local co-operative institu- 

 tions, that is to say, agricultural banks, 

 in the form of co-operative societies 

 with unlimited liability, and agricul- 

 tural trading societies constituted 

 among agriculturists in the form of 

 co-operative societies, or agricultural 

 associations constituted as corporate 

 bodies. According to the latest report 

 of each of these banks, the number of 

 intermediary institutions of the Bank 

 of Naples was 1,542, of which 764 were 

 "credit- worthy," and the total amount 

 of loans made to such institutions was 

 4,200,000 francs (£168,000) ; the number 

 of institutions having relations with the 

 Bank of Sicily was 157, and the business 

 done with them amounted to 4,000,000 

 francs (160,000). 



