Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

418 HISTORY OF THE BANKchartered banks; when bills or notes made payable at oneplace were discounted at another, a charge not exceedingone-half per cent, might be made for the expenses of collection.Incidentally, in an Act of 1856 1 amending and consolidatingthe various Acts relating to the Bank of Montreal, certainminor changes were made which afterwards became general.The directors might live anywhere within nine miles ofMontreal, a limit afterwards abolished by an Act of 1861. 2Instead of giving specific details of the information to bepresented to the shareholders at the annual meeting, thedirectors were required to submit "a full and clear statementof the affairs of the bank." Under section 22, "the bank maycharge any note or bill held by and payable at the bank, againstthe deposit account of the maker of such note or acceptor ofsuch bill, at the maturity thereof; any law, statute or usageto the contrary notwithstanding." Another new feature,soon to become general, was that authority was given toimpress signatures on the bank's notes by machinery. Duringthe session of 1856 most of these clauses were included in theActs consolidating the charters of the Commercial Bank ofthe Midland District and of the Bank of Upper Canada. 3The name of the former was changed to the Commercial Bankof Canada. During the same session the Union Bank ofCanada, Hamilton, and the Colonial Bank of Canada, Toronto,received charters 4 on lines somewhat similar to the charter ofthe Bank of Toronto. A new privilege given to the formerwas that of opening books of subscription not only in theUnited Kingdom, but inwell;the United States and in France asshares might be issued and dividends made payable inthose countries. In 1858 an Act to incorporate the Bank ofCanada was 5passed, with a capital of $3,000,000, an ambitious10 Viet., 1856, c. bcnri.*24 Viet.. 1861, c. xci.1&-20 Viet., 1856, c. cxx and c. ouci, respectively.'19-20 Viet., 1856, c. cxxii and c. cxxiii, respectively.22 Viet., 1858, c. cxxxi. The name was afterwards changed to "The CanadianBank of Commerce," so that the Act forms the original charter of that bank.