Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/131

BELTNG TO 119 avidenee of Nidhis seem last century the peoples' aptitude for co-operation. "The to have been started about the middle of the when Schulz? Delitseh and Raiffeisan were initiating the co-operative movement in Germany". Chapter VI points out the defects o! the 1904 Act which led to the appointment of Sir Maelagan's Committee and the subsequent passing o! the 191? Act. Chapter VII gives some useful "hints on the organization and management o! agricultnral credit co-operative societies" which-are o! great practical importance to workers in the field. Chapter VIII on "Dharam- golas" deserves the attention o! every co-operative student of Indian Economics. "Owing to the poverty o! the great mass of agriculturists it often happens that they have to sell their grain immediately after the harvest when the prices are at their 1owes? in order to pay rent, mahajan's debts or Land Revenue a?sessment, and they are unable to keep in hand enongh corn to maintain their families until the next year. Prices almost always begin to rise some three or four months after the harvest. If the agriculturists had been able to hold up their produce for three months, they wonld have had to sell less and could have kept in hand a stock enough to carry them over to the next year without an appeal to the sowkar". An institution like dharamgolas will undoubtedly enable them to derive the greatest economic advantage from their produce by selling their harvest at a good profit and laying by a stock o! reserve for their subsistence and for any unforeseen emergencies, such as famine and scarcity. In Chapters VII, VIII, XI, XII, X[V and XV the author describes the different types of agricultural or non-agricultural credit and non-credit societies in India and Burma. There he has not only traced the progress of the co-operative movement in India from its earliest stage to the present day but has also explained the nature and underlying principles of the different forms o! Indian co-operative institutions and has also incorporated the model byelaws of 14 different kinds o! societies. "The byelaws would be useful not only to the practical co-operator, but also to students of economies, who will find therein practical applications of the abstract theories of co-operations." Chapter XVIII is a reproduction of Professor Coyajee's noble vindication of the Indian Co-operative credit movement.