1905.] 



Agricultural Credit in France. 



associations federated in a central society {Union des caisses 

 ntrales)* Based on the principle of the unlimited liability of 

 the members for the debts of the society, it is found that bankers 

 will grant advances to societies of this kind without any other 

 guarantee, so that no capital is required. The safety of the 

 money lent to members is ensured by confining each society 

 within very small limits, usually a parish, where the circum- 

 stances and character of the members are easily known. 

 Particulars were not available for the whole of the above 

 societies, but it appears that 345 societies had a membership of 

 10,682, or about thirty-one persons each, and the loans in 1901 

 numbered 4,319, of a value of about £100,000: that is, each 

 society granted about twelve loans in the course of the year of 

 about £24 each. 



Another form of society, known as agricultural banks [caisses 

 agricoles), exists, based on the unlimited liability of members, 

 but with a variable capital, each member subscribing for one 

 share, which may be paid for by monthly instalments, These 

 societies are combined in the Centre federatif du Credit populaire, 

 which in 1902 embraced 340 societies, with a membership of 

 11,326, and a capital of £86,000. 



In order to encourage the development of agricultural credit a 

 law was passed in March, 1899, which provides for advances from 

 State funds, free of interest, to district or regional banks {caisses 

 tegionales). These banks are unions or federations of local 

 banks, and they devote themselves exclusively to making 

 advances to their affiliated banks, their capital being derived 

 from the State grants and from shares subscribed by the local 

 banks. The total sum available for this purpose was 

 £1,600,000, with an annual addition of not less than £80,000. 

 The advances are now regulated by a Committee, according to 

 a Decree dated nth April, 1905. 



As a result of this law there existed at the end of 1903 

 forty-one district banks to which the State had advanced about 

 £350,000, and the paid-up capital of which was £123,000. The 

 local co-operative banks affiliated to them numbered 616, 

 with a paid-up capital of about £59,000. The loans granted in 

 the course of the year amounted to £900,000. By the beginning 



* Annaite de f Agriculture, 1904. 



