Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE BANK DURING THE WAR 339securities with the Bank of England, and were placed in thehands of a committee to be accepted and sold in New York.Towards the end of 1915 the British Government reachedits long delayed decision to blockade Germany, and thisdecision, which affected exports very widely, was of deepinterest to bankers. Even though the regulations againsttrading with the enemy had been well observed in the main,Germany was finding means to obtain supplies throughindirect channels. Orders-in-council were issued forbiddingthe exportation of fish of all kinds to many countries in Europe;of scrap steel and scrap wrought iron to any countries exceptthe United Kingdom, British possessions and protectorates; ofrolled oats and oatmeal to all foreign ports in control of theenemy; and of hay to all destinations abroad except the countriesof the Allies. Gradually these orders-in-council wereextended to cover a very large list of commodities, and it wasnecessary to keep the branches of the bank advised as to thesematters.Throughout the year1915 the bank continued to use itsresources and machinery to the utmost in assisting the variousplans devised to raise funds for the prosecution of the war,and for meeting the emergencies created by it. The servicesof the managers were, for instance, placed at the disposal of theCanadian Patriotic Fund to investigate cases of need on thepart of officers' families which could not be reached by theordinary methods of visitation. The co-operation of the bankwas also freely given to the first appeal made in Canada by theBritish Red Cross Society. Subscriptions were accepted freeof charge for the Canadian Aviation Fund, which continued inexistence until the organization of the Royal Flying Corps.The same courtesies were also extended to the CanadianNational Branch of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society,which had under its special care the British sailors whohappened to be in Halifax from time to time, and to theSeamen's Hospital Fund, Greenwich.Nor were the financial needs of the Allies forgotten. In