Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

82 HISTORY OF THE BANKcontaining $1,000 had been left in the outer vault of the bank,where only books and vouchers were supposed to be kept.The clerk whose duty it was to sleep in the bank carried thevault key, and as he entered the premises on his return from ameeting at the Young Men's Christian Association, he wasseized and gagged. The burglars tied him to a chair whichwas placed on a small table so arranged that if he struggled hewould inevitably fall off. They then secured the vault keyfrom his pocket and had no difficulty in making off with theparcel. The directors held that the incident disclosed a breachof the rules in several important particulars, and decided tohold the manager responsible for the loss.During 1876, an unusual number of requests to openbranches were received by the bank from various parts ofOntario, but allwere declined, except those from Stratford,opened in December, 1876, and Walkerton, in January, 1877.In May, 1877, the Bank of British North America closedits branch at Dunnville, and The Canadian Bank of Commerceat once made arrangements to open a branch in that town.In 1878, the branches in Cayuga and Trenton were closed andnew ones were opened in Belleville, Paris and Seaforth. InAugust a request was received from the Board of Trade ofLevis, P.Q., to open a branch there, but it too was declined.It is evident that as yet the management of the bank wasdisposed to limit its sphere of operations to the province ofof offices else-Ontario, and that its policy as to the openingwhere, even in the larger centres of Canada and the UnitedStates, was governed largely by the requirements of its Ontariobusiness.The year 1879 witnessed an important innovation in theequipment of a banking office. The telephone had a fewyears previously been invented by Professor Graham Bell, thena resident of Brantford. On May 20, 1879, the manager of theHamilton branch of The Canadian Bank of Commerce wasgranted permission "by way of experiment" to place his office,by means of the telephone, in communication with the