FARMERS’ BANK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4349, 30 November 1921, Page 4

FARMERS’ BANK.

CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM. VARIOUS POINTS EXPLAINED, In an address to farmers on. the evening of the first day of the Wanganui Show', Mr W. J. Polson, Dominion president of- the Farmers’ Union, stressed the advantages of farmers’ banks, which have proved such a success in other countries, and emphasised the following, twelve points: 1. That they are banks, to which 1,600,000 farmers belong, out of a total population engaged in farming, including .labourers, of six millions. 2. That they are managed by farmers for farmers. 3. That they advance from 50 to 60 pei’ cent), on land values. 4. That these advances are compulsory ; they are compelled to lend to every applicant who has the security: 5. That they actively assist in the close’ settlement of land. 6. That they protect and assist the tenant as well as the landlord. 7. That they lend in sums of from £5 up to £500,000. 8. That they foster co-operation, some of them acting as the farmers’ merchant as well. 9. That their bonds are recognised .as first-class security with. !the great Continental banks. 10. That, having advanced over £500,000,000, their insolvency losses are one-fifty-fifth those pf other institutions. 11. That they lend money at the lowest possible rdtes. 12. That they do not aim at making any profit. “Those are twelve very startling points if we compare them with the ■methods of institutions we are more familiar with,” said Mr Polson. “When I add that they give depositors market rates of interest on current

•account, in many cases % per cent.

less than they charge flor overdrafts, and that their bonds are not subject to recall, ill may be realised that here is a banking system whose methods will stand scrutiny.”