280 Agricultural Credit in Belgium. [aug., 



and the growth during the past twelve years has been very great.* 

 Two types exist: (i) the " comptoirs agricolesp which were 

 established under the provisions of a law dated 18th April, 1884 ; 

 and (2) local co-operative credit societies, on the Raiffeisen 

 system of unlimited liability. 



The "comptoirs agricoles" are few in number, only eight 

 actually existing at the end of 1903, and two of these trans- 

 acted no business in that year. The remaining six, however, 

 granted 257 loans to the amount of £6o,ooo, and the total loans 

 reached ^294,500. The average sum lent was about £200. 

 The operations of these banks, so far as they have gone, have 

 been on a rather larger scale than the Raiffeisen banks, which 

 are chiefly resorted to by the small holders, who in the majority 

 of cases borrow sums under £10. 



The money lent by the " comptoirs " is obtained from the 

 States Savings Bank, the " comptoir " acting as an intermediary 

 between the agriculturist and the Savings Bank. The loans 

 are made on security, but the members of the "comptoir" are 

 held personally responsible to the bank for them. The rate of 

 interest is fixed at 4 per cent., of which one-fourth is taken by 

 the "comptoir" and the remainder by the Savings Bank. 



t The Raiffeisen banks, which date only from 1892, now number 

 359 with 17,600 members. Their growth has been as follows : — 



Year. 



No. of 

 Societies. 



No. of 

 Members. 



No. of Loans. 



Amount of 

 Loans. 











£ 



1895 



33 



1,160 



266 



4,440 



1897 



158 



5,689 



1,371 



18,700 



1899 



229 



9,593 



2,065 



42,100 



1901 



286 



13*308 



2,678 



76,240 



I903 



359 



17,646 



2,978 



93 ,200 



A noticeable feature of these banks is that they are very largely 

 used as savings banks, the total deposits in 1903 (including the 

 small capital) amounting to ,£421,000. In the Belgian official 

 statistics on this subject it is observed that the fact that the 

 deposits are higher than the loans is due to the great confidence 

 inspired by the Raiffeisen banks owing to the unlimited liability 

 of the members, and may be regarded as evidence that the methods 



* Expose statisque de la situation des associations dHnteret agricole, 1904. 



