Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

214 HISTORY OF THE BANKofin Sanplace in the business was taken by the late R. P. Rithet, 1Victoria, the firm name being Welch and CompanyFrancisco and Welch, Rithet and Company in Victoria, andboth firms becoming important customers of the Bank ofBritish Columbia. The first connection of Welch and hispartners with the sugar trade of the Hawaiian Islands resultedin a loss, but was followed by other transactions, until intime they became one of the leading firms in the trade, andagents for a number of important sugar plantations. TheBank of British Columbia early evinced its faith in the enterpriseof Welch and Company and made large advances to thesugar interests of the Islands. This banking connection hascontinued down to the present day, and forms a highlyesteemedpart of the business of the San Francisco branchof the bank.The rise of the bank to its new status having been traced,it is now necessary to revert to other matters which occurredin 1901, the date at which this chapter commences.One of the first evidences of the change in the characterof the bank is seen in the action taken by the Board onto set apart reserves in British Columbia for the use of the Indians.In 1878 he becamesole commissioner for this purpose, and held office until March, 1880, when he resigned.For a time he resided in Nelson, B.C., and he also held the position of stipendiarymagistrate at Revelstoke. He was for a short period editorial writer on the staffof the two Victoria newspapers, the Colonist and the Times. It is said thatSproat Lake, near the Alberni Canal, Vancouver Island, and Sproat's Landing,now Robson, at the foot of the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, were named afterhim.Robert Paterson Rithet (1844-1919) was born near Lockerbie, Scotland, andeducated at Annan Academy. He came to British Columbia in 1862, and enteredinto partnership in business, first with Gilbert M. Sproat in 1865, and then withJ. Robertson Stewart in 1870. The following year the firm of Welch, Rithet andCompany (now known as Rithet Consolidated, Limited) was formed and bought outthe interest of Mr. Stewart in the business. Mr. Rithet served as president of theVictoria Board of Trade for several years. He was Mayor of Victoria in 1885, andrepresented the city of Victoria in the provincial legislature from 1894 to 1898. Afterthe death of Mr. Andrew Welch in 1889, a great deal of Mr. Rithet's time was spent inSan Francisco, where he was successfully identified with the development of the sugarindustry of the Hawaiian Islands. For many years he was president of Welch andCompany, San Francisco. He was also president up to the time of his death of theCalifornia and Hawaiian Sugar Refining Company.