So far as people desiring to combine for the purpose
of co-operative credit have a knowledge of business and
sufficient ready cash to warrant such course — ^therefore
under all circumstances among our larger farmers — ^the
system of shares and limited liability offers the greatest
advantages. It ties people less than the other, it is adapt-
able to all circumstances and sets no limit to working
districts. It presupposes the formation of a small capital
— ^to serve rather as a guarantee than as working funds —
by the taking up of shares, which in our country it will be
best to fix at not too high a figure, but to make payable
within a rather narrowly limited time, say a year or two.
In Germany and Austria, where unlimited liability pre-
-dominates even in share banks, a different practice prevails.
Shares are there purposely made large, up to £50, and
plenty of tiine is allowed for paying them up. The same
rule apphes in some very successful banks in Switzerland.
