8 3 2 



History of Scawby Credit Society. 



[Jan., 



low rate of 5 per cent, per annum, or one penny per £ per 

 month. Few agriculturists in England can borrow at a lower 

 rate than this. 



In 19 10 the Reserve Fund equalled one-third of the total 

 amount of the loans granted, . and it is being added to at 

 the rate of over £5 a year. It seems hardly necessary to go 

 on increasing it at this rate, and the Society might, if it 

 chose, utilise the advantage it has gained in some such way 

 as the following : — 



It might repay its Chairman his generous gift of £15, of 

 which it now stands no longer in need, and so add to the 

 self-respect of the members. The remaining £$0 of its 

 Reserve Fund it might deposit in a separate account with 

 the Post Office Savings Bank or Local Joint Stock Bank, 

 and so make it no longer a part of the working capital, but 

 a true reserve, only to be drawn on by special resolution of 

 . the general meeting of the Society. It would receive on this 

 at 2J per cent, an annual interest of £1 5s., which would 

 cover its present annual working expenses, and leave a small 

 surplus. If it continued as at present to hold deposits 

 of about ;£i8o at 3 per cent., and to lend about as much to 

 members at 5 per cent., it would have on this business a 

 margin of £3 12s, per annum, which it could employ 

 to pay a small salary to its Secretary, to whose good account- 

 keeping much of its success is due. If it does not think it 

 necessary to pay its Secretary a salary, then, seeing that the 

 interest on its reserve more than covers the cost of the ad- 

 ministration, it could actually now afford to lend money to its 

 members at the same rate at which it can borrow — that is, so 

 long as depositors lend it money at 3 per cent., it could make 

 loans to its members at 3 per cent., and still go on adding 

 to its reserve. 



It will thus be seen that the Scawby Credit Society, besides 

 being the pioneer Agricultural Credit Society in England 

 and Wales, may well be taken as a model of good and suc- 

 cessful management by small agriculturists who wish to 

 combine their personal credit, and so obtain loans for their 

 agricultural operations at a low rate of interest. 



