Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

1867 TO 1901 95front door of the office, and then across the roadway, a distanceof considerably over one hundred feet. Notwithstandingthe damage done to the office, business was suspended only forabout two hours, and the broken windows were soon replaced.The committee of directors reported that it saw no reason toattach blame to anyone as being the cause of the accident, butsteps were taken to remove the gas pipes from the vault.The latter part of 1883 had seen a retrogression of thewave of prosperity which had swept over Ontario after 1879.The Manitoba land boom had collapsed in 1882 and leftbankrupt many who had temporarily enjoyed great wealth, orat least the semblance of wealth. The ruin was not confined toWinnipeg and its vicinity, for many business men of easternCanada had been carried away by the craze for speculation inwestern lands, and numerous customers of The Canadian Bankof Commerce were found to be involved. In Ontario the cropof 1883 was a poor one; and manufacturing industries werebeginning to show symptoms of depression, the consequence ofover-production. The prices of farm products, timber andother commodities that form the basis of the country's wealth,fell rapidly. The period from 1884 to 1887 was possibly themost difficult in the history of The Canadian Bank ofCommerce. The assets of the bank fell from $26,044,518 in1883 to $23,030,396 in 1884; to $22,109,206 in 1885 and to$19,574,094 in 1887, or over six millions of dollars in fouryears. In both 1884 and 1885 the sum of $75,000 wasappropriated for Contingent Account, although $100,000was added to the Rest in each of these years and the dividendwas maintained at eight per cent. The annual report for1886 announced a transfer of $500,000 from the Rest Accountto provide for bad debts of $490,000; the dividend was reducedto seven per cent, and $150,000 placed in Contingent Account.The adverse showing made in the fiscal year 1885-86 was inpart due to a shrinkage in the value of the assets of the BritishCanadian Timber and Lumber Company held as collateral