Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

262 HISTORY OF THE BANKin which the bank had shared to the full.1great prosperity,Its business had expanded rapidly, and it had also takenover in January the business and assets of the Bank ofBritish Columbia. In these ways its assets had increased'Addressing the shareholders at the annual meeting in 1901, Mr. B. E. Walker,the general manager, reviewing the progress made during the years then just past,said:"As the balance sheet of the bank exhibits changes of unusual importance wehave thought that the shareholders would be interested in comparing the presentsituation with the past in a more extended manner than is our ordinary custom.Three causes have combined to increase abnormally the figures with which we haveto deal. We have had a year of most gratifying increase at ail of our branches; wehave incorporated the figures of another bank; and we have, by the change in theBank Act, been required to bring into our balance sheet the assets and liabilities ofour agencies in the United States, instead of merely showing the resulting balancedue us, as was the previous requirement of the Act."Our statement shows that the resources at our command at the present time are$67,553,578, an increase since last year of $24,730,779. The resources at our commandin recent years have been as follows:1890 $22,596,5201895 28,408,2741898 34,256,1031899 39,682,7861900 42,822,7991901 67,553,578"The increase in our deposits during the past year has been $18,324,330, whichmay be divided as follows:Deposits of the Bank of British Columbia assumed $8,253,384Increase during the past year in branches of The CanadianBank of Commerce, apart from those which were formerlyestablishments of the Bank of British Columbia, and inthe latter for five months 7,527,726Increase due to change in form of balance sheet 2,543,220$18,324,330"The increase in our note circulation during the past year is $1,255,080, of whichabout $1,000,000 is attributable to the business taken over from the Bank of BritishColumbia."It will interest you to consider again, as we did a few years ago, the relativegrowth of this bank as compared with the growth of all banks in Canada combined."In 1896 our deposits constituted 9.27 per cent, of the entire deposits in charteredbanks in Canada; at present they constitute 14.31 per cent of the whole, an increase of5.04 per cent."In 1896 our note circulation was 7.79 per cent, of the entire circulation ofCanadian banks. It is now 11.49 per cent., an increase of 3.70 per cent."