October, 1911.] 



325 Agricultural Finance & Co-operation. 



There is also no provision in the regul- 

 ation districts of Bengal, like those in the 

 Sonthal Paragannas or the Chota Nag- 

 pore Division for reduction of debts. 

 For the greater expansion and successful 

 practice of co-operative principles, we 

 may fairly ask the Government to legis- 

 late on these matters. Until, however, 

 the Legislature intervenes, the formation 

 of fresh associations should be under- 

 taken only where poverty may be 

 relieved with substantial loss of more 

 solvent members. 



One word more. If co-operative credit 

 societies have to meet all the require- 

 ments of the agricultural or the labour- 

 ing population and become sources of 

 national benefit, they must not be left 

 to act each one wholly by itself. The 

 principle of co-operation should extend 

 from individuals to societies. There 

 should be coucerted and united action, 

 and common counsel and common con- 

 trol are essential features. Mutual assist- 

 ance would necessarily follow common 

 business ; continued action among credit 

 societies requiring the formation of 

 unions and central banks, and at present 

 there are a few unions in Bengal. With 

 the increase of societies unions should 

 also increase. 



Need of Mutual Co-operation. 



The principles and practices of econ- 

 omic co-operation may be extended from 

 credit and banking to stores, sales, and 

 purchases. When Raiffeisen first declar- 

 ed war in Germany against usury, he 

 started a co-operative bakery. For the 

 small fund he had to face much difficulty. 

 When, however, it became a success, the 

 principle was rapidly extended to pur- 

 chase and other industries. " At the 

 present time not a day passes in Germany 

 without notices coming of the establish- 

 ment of one, two or more societies." The 

 practice is not new to India which has 

 reached a high stage of civilisation, but 

 stimulus to revise and introduction of 

 advanced economic principles are needed. 

 The introduction of improved elements 

 of tillage and irrigation, the cultivation 

 of new crops, and the importation of 

 better seeds require mutual co-operation. 



The situation of our cultivators with 

 respect to grain dealers or aratdars, who 



are also money-lenders, is so highly 

 depressing, that to move in a better 

 groove is practically impossible. I have 

 noticed a curious fact at the Sheoraphuli 

 Hat. which is a large and important 

 market on the river side in the district 

 of Hooghly. That market commands 

 the price of potato, and potato-buyers 

 are mostly East Bengal mahajans who 

 have formed a clique. The aratdars sell 

 oil-cakes and other commodities on 

 credit, and necessarily at exorbitant 

 prices to the producers, and when the 

 latter bring their produce (potato or 

 jute) to the market, they have to place 

 their bags in charge of their respective 

 aratdars. The mahajans and aratdars 

 are either the same or have mutual 

 obligations, and as soon as the bags are 

 stalled they are weighed and sent by 

 boat at once to jute mills or to Calcutta. 

 This is done in the morning, and in the 

 afternoon the mahajans and aratdars 

 hold a meeting and they fix the pries of 

 the commodities. The producers have no 

 voice and have to accept what price the 

 aratdars and mahajans have agreed to. 

 The prices are not fixed on economic 

 principles of demand and supply, but 

 quite arbitrarily. The prices often ab- 

 normally vary from Calcutta or jute mill 

 prices. The number of intermediaries 

 between the producer and the consumers 

 are too many to the loss of both. Co-oper- 

 ative sale with the help of co-operative 

 credit banks would in all probability 

 extricate the producers from the clutches 

 of mahajans and aratdars. I have care- 

 fullv read the proceedings of your last 

 Conference, and I congratulate you for 

 the good work you have done in this 

 important department of economic pro- 

 gress. Your banks, urban and rural, 

 showed successful working. The gra- 

 dual development has been steady and 

 affords indication of prosperity in the 

 near future. Yours is a mainly agri- 

 cultural district, and so far as a stranger 

 may see, it compares favourably with 

 most of the adjoining districts. You 

 have a fertile field for the successful 

 practice of comparative principles by 

 establishment in sufficient numbers of 

 people's banks, co-operative stores, 

 societies for co-operative purchases and 

 sales and of unions and central banks. 



