Agricultural Finance & Co-operation. 150 



[August, 1911. 



Mention must also be made of the 

 Institution of Credit for Co-operative 

 Societies, which was founded 

 limited liability company at Milan, in 

 1904, with the assistance of the larger 

 popular banks and of some co-operative 

 societies. Its object is " to assist the 

 development of co-operative distributive 

 societies, co-operative productive socie- 

 ties, labour co-partnership societies, and 

 credit societies for the benefit of arti- 

 sans, clerks, peasants and metayers, and 

 small freeholders, facilitating, by means 

 of credit, the work of such societies." 

 This institution, which has a paid-up 

 capital of a million francs (£40,000) and 

 deposits to the amount of three million 

 francs (£120,000), and has made a strong 

 position for itself in nearly all Northern 

 Italy and in several of the towns of 

 Central and Southern Italy, inaugurated 

 in the first months of the past year a 

 special "Section for Rural Banks." 

 This Section will, in addition to grant- 

 ing loans and accepting deposits, dis- 

 count bills, open current accounts, and, 

 if different ways, encourage the work of 

 the rural banks and institutions of a 

 similar character. 



For several years Italian co-operators 

 have expressed the desire that the 

 State should take the initiative in form- 

 ing a central credit institution for the 

 benefit of co-operative societies. In 

 response to this desire the Minister of 

 Agriculture introduced into the Chamber 

 of Deputies on the 11th February, 1910, 

 a Bill for the " Institution of the Bank 

 of Labour and Co-operation." The initial 

 capital of the Bank, fixed by the Bill at 

 15 million francs (£600,000) has already 

 reached over 22 millions (£880,000), and it 

 is believed that by the commencement 

 of operations it will have reached 30 

 million francs (£1,200.000). The contri- 

 bution from the State will be £400,000. 

 The Bank is to be empowered to trans- 

 act credit business with all the co-oper- 

 ative societies without distinction and 

 to discount commercial bills given by 

 them. The Bank will give preference 

 to small credit transactions, speculative 

 transactions being excluded. It will be 

 managed by a council composed of repre- 

 sentatives of the Ministry of Agricul- 

 ture, the Treasury, Ministry of Public 

 Works, the Bank of Italy, and of other 

 institutions contributing to the capital, 

 and will beunder government inspection. 



STATE AID TO AGRICULTURE IN 

 NORWAY. 



(From the Journal of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, Vol. XVIL, No. 12, March, 1911.) 



Some information as to the steps taken 

 in Norway for the advancement of agri- 

 culture, dairying, and forestry, has been 

 transmitted to the Board through the 

 Foreign Office by H. M. representative 

 at Christiania. The Central Adminis- 

 tration is focussed in the Department of 

 Agriculture, which in addition to a head- 

 quarters staff, maintains a number of 

 officials who travel about the country 

 and give advice on matters connected 

 with agriculture, live stock, and 

 dairying. They also assist the Central 

 Administration in carrying out public 

 works for the advancement of agri- 

 culture and dairying, and as they natur- 

 ally come into close contact with the 

 country population, they have every 

 opportunity of ascertaining the con- 

 ditions of the various districts. Pro- 

 posals made by the Central Adminis- 

 tration with respect to the carrying out 

 of any new measures are, as a ride, sent 

 to the officials concerned for any remarks 

 they may have to make before these are 

 submitted to tne Storthing, but the 

 Central Authorities have frequently 

 appointed special committees of experts 

 when questions requiring more detailed 

 inquiry were being discussed. 



In addition to this advisory staff there 

 are several State establishments with 

 special functions, viz., three chemical 

 stations (including seed testing), two ex- 

 perimental stations for plant culture, 

 three milk inspecting establishments, 

 and three sheep breeding farms. 



Aid to Agricultural Societies.- In 

 each of the eighteen " amts " of the 

 country there exists an agricultural 

 society, and these societies are branches 

 of the Royal Society for the welfare of 

 Norway. The work of this Society has 

 mainly consisted in taking the initiative 

 in new measures for the advancement of 

 agriculture. When arrangements made 

 by the Society are found to be of prac- 

 tical advantage and are working satis- 

 factorily, they are taken in hand by the 

 Central Administration, The Society 

 also undertakes special work, mainly of 

 a scientific nature. The State grant to 

 this Society amounts to between £1,667 

 and £2,222 per annum. 



The State contributes towards the 

 expenses of the local agricultural 

 societies, an amount equivalent to the 

 sums subscribed by the various districts. 

 The agricultural society in Finmarken 

 (the most northern" amt" in Norway) 



