PROGRESS IN IRELAND.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9162, 3 June 1901, Page 1

PROGRESS IN IRELAND.

A recent report of the Irish Board of Agriculture gives satisfactory evidence of the steady accumulation of capital m Ireland. The returns of deposits m joint stock banks show that m the last twenty years the deposits and cash balances m these banks increased from, roughly, £30,000,000 to £43,000,000. There was aa even greater proportional increase m the savings of the poorer classes, as represented by the deposits m the Post Ofßee and Trustee Savings Banks, the increase being from £3,635,000 to £10,368,000. More interesting, however, than these substantial figures is the evidence contained m the report of .the progress that has been made towards the development of co-operative credit among tho Irish peasants. The idea of .co-operative credit is borrowed from Germany, where the system has worked wonders m assisting the peasantry to hdp themselves and to help one another. Through the energy of Mr Horace Plnnkett, the first village bank on the Raiffeisen model was started m. Ireland only six years ago. There axe now seventy- ,, five of these village associations, many of them m the congested districts. All are controlled by the villagers themselves, , there is no paid labor of any kind, and all the members of the association are jointly responsible for the debfe of the association. How well the system works is proved by the fact that on loan transactions amounting to £9000 the net loss h.w been £1 9s 3d. Those who know how much co-operation has done for the English working classes, and how much it is doing m other directions m Ireland, will welcome this evidence of the development of the co-operative movement among the very poorest of Irish poor. — Scotsman.