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Tile drainage work was delayed in most districts by the difficulty in securing tiles that arose from the dispute in the coal-mining industry, while drainage operations generally were hindered by snowstorms in the autumn. At the close of the year grants amounting to £2,284 had been paid by the Board. The grants to a very large extent will be claimed in the period 1st January to 31st March 1927.

LAND RECLAMATION.

Lochar Moss.-The experiment in the reclamation of 1 acres of moss land at Lochar Moss was continued during the year, when the remaining section of half an acre, which was dressed with lime during 1925, was treated with phosphatic manures. Despite the unusually severe winter of 1925-26 the grass and white clover sown during the previous two summers were not adversely affected, and an appreciable amount of red clover survived.

Agrostis, Yorkshire Fog, and Creeping Softgrass made their appearance, however, and have proved difficult to eradicate.

A small afforestation experiment has been commenced on untreated land adjoining the demonstration area, 600 conifers of different varieties having been planted. So far the trees have responded well.

AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION.

SCOTTISH AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION SOCIETY.

As stated in the Board's last Report, a grant from the Development Fund of an amount not exceeding £4,000 was approved for payment to the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society in aid of its work in the year 1925-26. The offer of a grant of that amount enabled the Society to carry out its proposals for an expansion of its operations. An additional organiser was appointed in December 1925, the staff of organisers being thus increased to five. As the Society's gross expenditure for the year exceeded its income by £3,957 a grant of that sum was paid to it.

In order to enable the Society to continue its work on the extended scale, the payment of a grant not exceeding £5,000 was approved for the year 1926-27. The Society was, however, urged to endeavour to secure an increase in its independent income, and was informed that in future years the amount of its annual grant, or part of it, would be adjusted proportionately on a £ for £ basis with the amount of the financial support received by it from other sources.

The Society publishes an annual report in which particulars of its work in the promotion and development of agricultural co-operation are given.

RURAL CREDIT.

LOANS TO AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES.

Reference was made in their last Report to the Board's offer of a loan of £1,000 to meet part of the capital cost of the establishment of a co-operative milk depot in the north of Scotland. The Wick Dairy Farmers' Society, to which the offer was made, was enabled with the promise of this assistance to complete its arrangements for the purchase, adaptation, and equipment of premises in Wick for use for the purpose stated. The Society began its trading operations in March and the Board's loan was paid to it on 24th May.

The conditions of the scheme, as originally approved, for the making of loans to assist the promotion and development of productive agricultural co-operative undertakings were detailed in Appendix No. 5 to the Board's Thirteenth Report. It was considered advisable to amend the conditions of the scheme in order more satisfactorily to regulate the maximum amount of loans to be made to new societies, and to provide for the making

of advances of working capital to existing societies. A statement of the revised conditions of the scheme, as approved by the Treasury, is given in Appendix No. 4 to this Report.

Particulars of the revised scheme were announced in August in the daily and agricultural press and were communicated to the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society and its affiliated societies and to other agricultural associations and institutions. While no applications for loans under the revised scheme were received before the close of the year, it was reported that the possibility of promoting agricultural co-operative undertakings with the aid of loans under the scheme was then being examined at certain centres.

AGRICULTURAL CREDITS ACT, 1923.

As was stated in the Board's last Report an advance of £1,050 was made to the Mearns Agricultural Credit Society in May 1925. The Society undertook to repay that loan in eight equal halfyearly instalments of principal, but, with the Board's approval, a sum of £97. 10s. from the first instalment payable on 31st January 1926 was retained by the Society as an additional advance under the Act.

In terms of the Act, the authority given to the Board to make advances to Agricultural Credit Societies was restricted to a period of three years after the passing of the Act or such further period as the Treasury might prescribe. On the expiration of the three years' period at 31st July 1926 the Mearns Agricultural Credit Society still held the position of being the one Society in Scotland to which advances under the Act had been made. With the concurrence of the Treasury the Board informed that Society that additional advances would be made to it, if required, up to 31st March 1927; but in the absence of any evidence of a desire amongst Scottish Agriculturists to form additional Agricultural Credit Societies, the Board were unable to recommend that the powers conferred upon the Treasury of continuing the operation of the Act should otherwise be exercised.

In view of the extent to which co-operative credit is successfully practised in other countries, it is disappointing that a greater interest was not shown in Scotland in the effort made under the Act to encourage with State assistance the formation of Agricultural Credit Societies. The scheme of short-term credit for which the Act made provision may have offered little advantage to farmers who have banking accounts, but it was thought that it might be useful to small farmers and crofters.

The explanation most frequently given to the Board of the lack of interest shown in the Act was that most agriculturists in Scotland requiring loans would prefer to obtain them from private sources with a guarantee of secrecy rather than to obtain them, even at a lower rate of interest, by the submission of applications necessitating a partial disclosure of their financial position to Committees of local Societies. It was also noted that almost all the enquiries received regarding the Act were

made by agriculturists who stated that they were in need of loans. It was essential, however, to ensure successful working that any Credit Society formed should have a sufficient membership and share capital to permit the satisfactory organisation of its borrowing and lending operations from the outset, and it was perhaps not to be expected that those who might willingly have availed themselves of the credit facilities offered under the Act should take the initiative in asking their neighbours who were not in need of such assistance to join in the formation of Agricultural Credit Societies.

The formation of the Mearns Agricultural Credit Society was the outcome of a suggestion made at a meeting of the Laurencekirk Branch of the National Farmers' Union of Scotland that a Society should be established to allow those agriculturists in the county of Kincardine who desired to do so to take advantage of the credit facilities made available under the Act. The Society was organised under a capable Committee of Management, and the following extract from a report received from the Society shows that the experiment undertaken in its formation has been fully justified by the results :

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"The number of advances made by the Society to members 'has been 18. The purposes for which the loans were required were as follows:

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(a) 15 loans amounting to £1,480 for seeds, manures,

feeding-stuffs, etc.;

"(b) one loan amounting to £100 for cattle, seeds, manures and feeding-stuffs;

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(c) one loan amounting to £30 for ingoing valuations; "(d) one loan amounting to £177 for threshing plant. "All the loans were given for periods of four years.

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"The Committee consider that the loans under Section 2 (2) of the Act serve a most useful purpose. The saving which "farmers may effect by taking loans under the Act instead of taking credit from manure merchants, feeding-stuff manufacturers, etc., is very material indeed."

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SCOTTISH WOMEN'S RURAL INSTITUTES.

During the year the Institutes continued to make steady progress, and at 31st October there were 526 Institutes with an approximate total membership of 30,049. The number of Federations was increased to 24; all the Institutes, with the exception of those, which are few in number, in the counties of Dumbarton, Renfrew, and Selkirk and in Shetland, Bute, Skye, Harris and North Uist, are now included within the Federation. In view of the development of the movement in Clackmannan and Fife, the Federation for these two counties organised a system of Group Meetings for the purpose of enabling more members to get into touch with the work of the Federation and of the movement as a whole.

The Biennial Area Conferences of the Institutes were held as follows:-Central Area, at Perth on 25th June; North-Western

Area, at Oban on 29th June; South-Eastern Area, at Edinburgh on 17th July; North-Eastern Area, at Aberdeen on 28th August; and South-Western Area, at Glasgow on 7th October.

There was considerable discussion within the movement as to the future organisation after 31st October 1927, when the Board's grant would come to an end. The problem was mainly financial. Two schemes were put forward, one favoured by the South-Western, Central and North-Western Areas and the other by the North-Eastern and South-Eastern Areas. They differed mainly in the extent to which it was proposed to centralise control, including the control of finance. The framers of the second scheme were in favour of placing at the disposal of the Central Council £2000 a year to enable them to maintain their organisers over the whole country. Under the former scheme the Central Council would handle only £600, half of which was to go towards meeting the cost of extending the movement in the North-Western Area. Otherwise services were to be controlled locally, and the money raised in the Area for that purpose. A majority of Institutes voted in favour of the first scheme. The Board convened a conference in October for the purpose of getting the majority and the minority, if possible, to combine certain features of their schemes. Some success was attained in this direction, and at the close of the year the future organisation of the Institutes was still under discussion.

As in previous years, the Institutes organised or took part in shows for the exhibition of handicrafts and farm and garden produce. A notable feature of the entertainments at some of these shows and exhibitions was the interest shown in Historical Pageants, of which successful performances were given by several Federations.

The Rural Industries Section of the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show held at Kelso had good entries from the Institutes. The South-Eastern Area had an Exhibits and Sales Tent at the Show and obtained very satisfactory results.

The grant received from the Carnegie Trustees for instruction in choir-singing, dramatic art and acting in the North-Western Area was greatly appreciated and most successful classes were held. As a result of the instruction received, choirs and dramatic clubs have been formed in several Institutes. A further grant for this purpose has been promised by the Carnegie Trustees for 1927.

At the request of the Education Committee many of the Musical Festival Associations included classes in choir-singing and folk-dancing for the Institutes in the 1926 Festivals. These met with a gratifying response.

A series of wireless talks on matters of interest in the Institutes were arranged, and lectures and demonstrations on the subjects of "listening-in" were given by the British Broadcasting Company in many of the Institutes.

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