1910.] Co-operative Live Stock Insurance. 



647 



valuations is taken. These valuers may be paid by the com- 

 mittee or not, as it thinks fit to decide. 



The cattle insured are marked on the ear or on the hoof, 

 which marks, as well as a description of the age, sex, breed, 

 colour, &c, are entered in the register. No animals held for 

 the purpose of dealing are eligible. There are simple regula- 

 tions for placing on the register the substitutes of any cows 

 sold. Indemnities are paid within a week or two after the 

 loss. 



The societies are not responsible beyond their resources. 

 Societies without capital cannot meet epidemics. In such 

 emergencies societies may vote that they will (a) pay a smaller 

 indemnity, (b) vote an extra levy, (c) postpone the indemnity 

 until better times, (d) seek a loan from the central re- 

 insuring union. Certain losses are specified as not to be 

 indemnified. These are casualties by war, riots, theft, pil- 

 lage, inundations, fire, lightning, fall of buildings, trans- 

 port by road, rail, or water, and also losses caused by want of 

 care, by bad or violent treatment by the owner, or by persons 

 for whom he is legally responsible. Animals on the way to or 

 from a fair or a show remain covered by the insurance. If 

 the loss is caused by another party, the owner is bound to 

 take his recourse against that party before claiming his 

 indemnity. 



The details necessary for the successful management of 

 this insurance may seem very complicated for a local society 

 of small farmers, but experience of co-operative work shows 

 that this type of insurance will give no more trouble than 

 many other branches of co-operative work, and is, in fact, 

 extremely simple. 



Central Re-insuring Union. — For re-insurance, the Union 

 of the local societies is formed at the central headquarters, 

 generally under the auspices of a large agricultural co-opera- 

 tive federation. The administrative committee for re-insur- 

 ance consists of a certain number of members appointed by 

 that federation out of its own members or out of its own com- 

 mittee, and the affiliated societies elect also a certain number 

 of representatives to sit on the committee, the societies form- 

 ing themselves into groups for the purpose of election. Six 

 affiliated societies fairly distributed in different parts of the 



