Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

12 HISTORY OF THE BANKdifficulties, and was to fail before the new bank came intobeing. But apart from this unfortunate similarity of title,general conditions were against the flotation. The provisionaldirectors tried for a time to obtain the necessary subscriptions,and then decided to let the charter lie in abeyance. Fiveyears later, in 1863, they sought an amendment 1 of theircharter enabling them to open subscription books, and to holdthe organization meeting for the election of the first Boardof Directors, in London, England. The bill empowered theBoard to hold its meetings and transact the bank's businessin London, so long as three-fourths of the capital stock washeld by personsresident in Great Britain and Ireland. Itpassed the first and second readings, but on being reportedby the Standing Committee on Banking and Insurance towardsthe close of the session, it was referred back by the House andnever heard of again. Two later applications to the same effectproved equally futile, and it was not until 1866 that theprojected bank came into existence under circumstances whichillustrate the curiously fluctuating financial historytimes.There was inof theUpper Canada about 1866 an abundanceof money seeking investment, but in many other respectsconditions seemed by no means propitious for such an enterprise,because the great activity due to the American CivilWar was over, and the Reciprocity Treaty with the UnitedStates had just been rescinded. Under the provisions of thistreaty Canadian farmers had for twelve years enjoyed a readymarket at high prices, but they were now experiencing thedepressing effects of what they deemed a blow at their economicwelfare. None the less, in the long run this supposed misfortunehad the salutary result of teaching Canada, at the veryoutset of Confederation, to rely upon herself. The Government'slack of a definite financial policy was, to a new banking^he bill was introduced by the Hon. John Alexander Macdonald (1815-91), laterthe Rt. Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald, G.C.B., the well-known Canadian statesman,and Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada from 1867 to 1873, and from 1878to 1891.