Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

134 HISTORY OF THE BANKDecember 6, and had on their part ratified the agreement,which was carried into effect on January 1 following.By this amalgamation, the capital of The Canadian Bankof Commerce was increased to $8,000,000, through the issueof $2,000,000 of new stock to the shareholders of the Bank ofBritish Columbia. For the fiscal year ending May, 1901, theprofits were $854,323, and this amount, together with thesurplus of $562,776 derived from the purchase of the Bank ofBritish Columbia assets after transferring the sum of $75,000to the Pension Fund to provide for the staff of the Bank ofBritish Columbia, made it possible to transfer $750,000 tothe Rest, making the total of that fund $2,000,000, or twentyfiveper cent, of the capital. It was soon to grow very rapidly.The total assets were now $67,553,578, an increase of almostsixty per cent, during the year.Before concluding the account of this periodbank's history it will be well to review the changesof thein thedirectorate during the last few years of the nineteenth century.In May, 1894, occurred the death of Mr. George Taylor, whohad been a director continuously since 1871. His place wasnot filled, a by-law being passed at the next annual meetingreducing the number of directors to seven. Mr. John I.Davidson, the vice-president, retired from the Board in May,1896, and Mr. Robert Kilgour was then elected to the vicepresidency,Mr. Joseph W. Flavelle 1taking the vacant placeamong the directors. In 1900 the number of directors wasincreased to nine, by the addition of Mr. Abner Kingman 2^ir Joseph Wesley Flavelle, Bart., LL.D. (b. 1858), is the son of the late JohnFlavelle and was born at Peterboro, Ont. He is president of the National Trust Company,Limited; vice-president of The Robert Simpson Company. Limited, and of theToronto Penny Bank; and a director of the John Murphy Company, Limited, ottreal and Quebec. He is a Governor of Toronto University and was for many yearsChairman of the Board of Trustees, Toronto General Hospital. During the GreatWar he acted as Chairman of the Imperial Munitions Board in Canada, and for hUservices was created a baronet in 1917.'Abner Kingman (b. 1856) is a native of Boston, Mass. He came to Montreal in1875 and entered the 6rm of Robert C. Adams and Company, of which he was made apartner in 1870. In 1882 the firm name was changed to Kingman and Company.