§ MR.MORRELL (Oxfordshire, Henley)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether in view of the powers contained in Section 39 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act on the subject of cooperative and credit bank societies, and of the determination of the Government not to give its sanction-to any scheme of agricultural credit banks involving unlimited liability, the Board will direct full inquiries to be made and a 1463 Report issued upon the systems of agricultural credit practised in Germany, Austria, France, and Italy, so as to ascertain whether and to what extent agricultural credit societies in those countries are under limited liability; or, if not, whether unlimited liability has entailed those detrimental consequences which the Government appear to attribute to it, and generally to obtain particulars as to the working of such societies.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The Board have published in their Journal from time to time articles dealing with agricultural credit banks in foreign countries. Information as to Germany was given in March, 1906, and as to France in June, 1905. The conditions which obtain in Austria and Italy will be described when opportunity offers.