Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

96 HISTORY OF THE BANKby the bank, and in part to the failures of certain wealthycustomers who had speculated in land in western Canada, andhad subsequently been ruined by the sudden collapse of landvalues in that part of the country, referred to above. Amongthe assets of the British Canadian Timber and LumberCompany was a timber limit valued by the Company at$700,000, and subsequently, by the trustees appointed toadminister its affairs, at $250,000. This limit sold at a publicauction, at which the attendance was large and the biddingspirited, for the sum of $158,650!In the spring of 1885 the North-West Rebellion brokeout, and a force of over 5,000 men, consisting principally ofmilitia and volunteers, was raised for its suppression. Fourmembers of the bank's staff are recorded as having servedtheir country on this occasion, Messrs. Simcoe MackintoshDaly, Percy Neville Smith, Charles Wauchope Gilmour andEdwin Protheroe Gower; and the directors decided to paytheir salaries in full during their absence. Mr. Daly was shot\?through the hand while on active service.* Mr. Gower is theonly one of the four who is still in the service of the bank, andnow (1922) holds the position of assistant manager of theToronto branch.The annual report for 1886 was the last signed by Mr.W. N. Anderson as general manager and by the Hon. WilliamMcMaster as president. At the annual meeting of shareholdersheld on July 13, 1886, the veteran Senator, who fornineteen years had guided the bank's destinies, announcedthat in view of his advancing years and the state of his healthhe had decided to retire from the presidency. At this meeting,when moving the adoption of a by-law increasing the numberof directors from eight to ten, he stated that he had, for thereasons just mentioned and in view of the increasing age ofseveral of his co-directors, taken occasion lately to impress onthem the necessity of strengthening the Board by the introductionof new members. He proposed the name of Mr. Henry W.