Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

1867 TO 1901 91give serious attention to the question of interest on deposits.Some previous efforts to reduce rates made early in 1878,before the revival of business began, had been unsuccessful.The Merchants Bank of Canada and the general manager ofthe Consolidated Bank were both agreeable to the proposalsmade, but Mr. McCraken, 1 the assistant general manager,would not agree to them. In February, 1880, the directors ofThe Canadian Bank of Commerce decided, in conjunctionwith the Bank of Toronto, to discontinue the payment ofinterest on current account balances at the Collingwood andBarrie branches. The savings bank department at the Barriebranch was also discontinued, interest being paid only on depositreceipts. In May, The Canadian Bank of Commerceand the Merchants Bank of Canada took steps to reduce therate of interest paid on deposits at Gait, Berlin and Waterloo,from five per cent, to four per cent. In September of the sameyear it was decided by the Board to reduce to three per cent,the rate of interest paid on current account balances at theToronto branch. In October the Board authorized negotiationswith the other banks with a view to an immediate reductionin the rate of interest paid on deposits at all branchesto a maximum of three per cent, when subject to a long noticeof withdrawal, and to two per cent, when subject to a shorternotice. No interest was to be allowed on moneys subject torepayment without notice.As the financial statement submitted to the shareholdersat the annual meeting in 1882 marks the culminating point ofthis short period of prosperity in the bank's affairs, the figuresThomas McCraken (1835-96) was a son of James McCraken, shipbuilder, andmember of the Parliament of Lower Canada. He entered the lumbering business ofWilliam Price and Company, Quebec, in 1850, but left four years later to join the staffof the Gore Bank, Hamilton. In 1869 he entered the Royal Canadian Bank, Toronto,becoming cashier, as the chief officer of the bank was then termed. On the amalgamationof the Royal Canadian Bank and the City Bank in 1875 to form the ConsolidatedBank, he became assistant general manager of the latter. After the failure of theConsolidated Bank he re-entered the lumber business in Toronto, first as a member ofthe firm of John Oliver and Company and then of McCraken, Gall and Company.Later he formed the Toronto Land and Investment Corporation, of which he wasmanager up to the time of his death.