Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

DEVELOPMENT OF CANADIAN BANKING 417were also extended to the five other chartered banks mentionedabove, were as follows:1. The statements, heretofore required semi-annually,were in future to be sent in monthly, as under thefree banking Act.2. One-tenth of the whole paid-up capital was to beinvested in securities of the province of Canada orof the Consolidated Municipal Loan Fund. 1 Thisclause was dictated by the financial requirementsof the Government and figured for a considerabletime in Canadian banking.3. The duration of the charters was extended to 1870.As all subsequent charters, new or amended, weremade to terminate in the same year, the way wasthus cleared for the introduction of a general BankAct, applicable to all the chartered banks.In 1855 the Bank of Toronto was incorporated under acharter 2 which, while it did not contain any important newideas, is remarkable chiefly for havingleft out a number ofrequirements to which almost all the other banks were subject.When the charter was amended in 1857, 3 most of these wereinserted. The most notable change was a provision that eachshare of the stock should carry a vote, without any limitationon the number of votes to which a shareholder was entitled.In the same year the Eastern Townships Bank, with headoffice at Sherbrooke, received an Act of incorporation embodyingthe usual conditions, but adding nothing new. 4 In thefollowing year, in an Act5 intended chiefly to clear up certaindoubts as to the legality of the extension of the capital ofLa Banque du Peuple, previously authorized, a new clause wasadded which later in the session 6 was made applicable to all'See Vol. I, pp. 226 and 362.18 Viet., 1855, c. ccv.20 Viet., 1857, c. clx.18 Viet., 1855, c. ccvi.19 Viet., 1856, c. xxvii.19 Viet., 1856, c. xlviii.