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Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

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1867 TO 1901 115stood to favour changes in the Act which were regarded bythe bankers as undesirable. When the nature of his proposalswas finally <strong>com</strong>municated to them, it was found thatthe most important matters about which there was likelyto be a difference of opinion were the sufficiency of thein allsecurity for bank-note issues, then* currency at parparts of the Dominion, and the question of requiring thebanks to carry at all times a definite percentage of theirliabilities in cash. 1 Mr. B. E. Walker was selected as theleader of the bankers' delegation in the discussion of thesematters with the Minister of Finance, who was finallyprevailed upon to accept the main features of the proposalsput forward, including the establishment of what is knownas the Bank Circulation Redemption Fund and the provisionfor redemption agencies in all the provinces of Canada. Inthis way a satisfactory solution of the problems affecting thenote issues was reached. Mr. Foster insisted that a minimumshould be fixed by law for the cash reserves to becarried by the banks, but an appeal was taken by thebankers on this question to the Cabinet as a whole, and theywere granted the courtesy of a hearing. The arguments of the2bankers were presented by Mr. Walker, supported by Messrs.George Hague of the Merchants Bank of Canada and ThomasFyshe 3 of the Bank of Nova Scotia. After the hearing was over,the Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, asked that thebankers should state their views in writing, and this was done.The matter was then carefully considered by the whole bodyof ministers, who gave their decision in favour of the bankers. 4^hese matters are discussed at length by Dr. Shortt in chapter VII. See p. 454.8Mr. Walker's argument, under the title of "An Arbitrary Gold Reserve," appearedin the Journal of the Canadian Bankers' Association, (July 1920), XXVH, 387.Thomas Fyshe (1845-1911) was born in East Lothian, Scotland. He was for atime in the service of the Bank of Scotland, and of the Birmingham Joint Stock Bank,and after <strong>com</strong>ing to Canada joined the staff of the Bank of British North America.For a few years he was in the brokerage business in New York, but again took upbanking, this time in the service of the Bank of Nova Scotia, of which he became cashierin 1876. From 1897 to 1905 he was joint general manager of the Merchants Bankof Canada. He was president of the Canadian Bankers' Association, 1895-6.4George Hague, Journal of the Canadian Bankers' Association, I, 109.

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