Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

1867 TO 1901 109January, 1887. Her appointment indicates the increasinguse of the typewriter for correspondence.In November of the same year, authority was given to theMontreal manager to instal twenty-five incandescent electriclights in his office. The cost of the installation was estimatedat $250 and the annual expenditure at $437.50. This is thefirst mention in the minutes of the introduction of electriclighting into the offices of the bank. It was not until May,1889, that the question of installing electric lighting in thenew head office building came before the Board. The firstcontract for lighting the head office by electricity was approvedon November 19 in that year.During the early part of 1887, the arrangement withthe Bank of Scotland, London, had been under discussion bycorrespondence, with a view to enlarging the scopeforeign exchange business of the New York agency.of theShortlyafter the annual meeting in July, the president and generalmanager visited England, and the latter succeeded in obtaininga reduction in the rate of commission paid for theservices of the London bank by undertaking that the increasein business, even during the first year, would more thancompensatefor the reduction in rate. At the same timeit was decided to close the relations with Messrs. A. R.McMaster and Brother, which had been most satisfactoryand profitable, but would no longer be necessary when thenew arrangement went into force. The Bank of Scotlandhad long accepted bills drawn by the bank against documentaryexchange or other satisfactory cover, but paymentsby cable had been made through A. R. McMaster andBrother and demand drafts had been drawn on that firm,because such transactions were based on the discount rate forlong term bills of the description known to exchange bankers as"clean bills," as the documents accompanying them, if any,are surrendered upon acceptance. It was the custom to sellthese bills in a keenly competitive open market to the discountcompanies.This business the Bank of Scotland undertook in