184 



AGRICULTURAL CREDIT BANKS IN RUSSIA. [Dec. 1894. 



Of late the question of establishing a healthier and sounder 

 mode of affording easy credit to the peasant class has again 

 come to the front, and a revision of the actual statutes of loan 

 deposit companies has been commenced with the idea of en- 

 larging their sphere of operations, and of rendering it easier 

 for them to enjoy a large credit with the Imperial Bank, since 

 the necessity of having recourse to private loans is irksome and 

 costly. 



To remove the inconveniences connected with loan deposit 

 companies, and with the purpose of ensuring to the rural popula- 

 tion the establishment of a loan institution, which should better 

 correspond with the organisation of already existing village 

 communities, the Government drew up, in 1883, a scheme for 

 the establishment of village banks. At the same time a board 

 of control, composed of persons who were most intimately 

 acquainted with rural administration, was appointed to direct 

 the affairs of such banks. It was proposed to open these banks 

 in districts where, for one reason or another, the establishment 

 of loan deposit companies was impracticable or impossible. 



The normal statutes of these village banks provide that the 

 fund capital shall be formed from sums granted by peasant 

 communities or private individuals, and shall not amount to less 

 than 800 roubles. The banks are empowered to receive deposits 

 and to borrow loans for a sum not exceeding five times the capital 

 fund. Loans of not more than 200 roubles per person, and for 

 a term not exceeding one year, are advanced exclusively to 

 peasants of those communities which founded the bank. The 

 collection of loans not repaid by the fixed term is effected in the 

 same order and way as debts due to a peasant community. The 

 administration of a bank is entrusted to a committee of control, 

 consisting of three members and a chairman, elected by the 

 village assembly of the community which founded the bank. 

 The inspection of the banks is entrusted to the village assembly 

 and district and Government chancelleries, to which the banks 

 are obliged to give each year a report of their operations. 



From May 1886, when the village banks were first opened, to 

 November 1889, the statutes of 184 such banks had been 

 approved and sanctioned, with a fund capital of about 500,000 

 roubles. 



Besides these village banks, there was established in 1883 a 

 central Land Bank for the Peasantry, with the object of facili- 

 tating the purchase of land by peasants by means of voluntary 

 agreement between proprietor and purchaser. It was found 

 that the most practical way of facilitating the puichase of land 

 was to advance the required sum for a long period to the intend- 

 ing purchaser, and to allow the gradual liquidation of the loan. 

 The amount of the loan advanced is limited to 125 roubles to 

 any individual member of the commune, and 150 roubles to a 

 householder. The first of these two limits in the amount of a 

 loan advanced is applied to those places where the custom of 



