Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

DEVELOPMENT OF CANADIAN BANKING 419amount for a new bank in those days.The charter, however,contained no new features of any importance.The Royal Bank of Canada was chartered in 1859. 1Thepetitioners were all residents of London, England, and themeeting to elect directors might be held there, althoughToronto was to be the chief place of business. An interestingfeature was that as the bank expected to be incorporated andto operate in the other provinces of British North America, theobligations, limitations and other provisions of the Act of theprovince of Canada were to apply only to the business of thebank within that province. In an Act of 1860, which consolidatedthe Acts forming the charter of the Gore Bank, 2 aninteresting variation is found in the scale of voting. One votewas allowed for every five shares above ten, the total numberof votes which any shareholder might have being stilllimitedto fifteen. In an Act of 1861 granting a charter to La BanqueJacques Cartier, 3 in addition to the usual stipulations, thereappears for the first time the requirement that the amountof capital to be paid in before beginning business (in this case$100,000) was to be deposited in one of the other charteredbanks. The same stipulation reappears in an Act of 1866amending the charter of the Bank of Canada, and changingits name to The Canadian Bank of Commerce. 4 When therequirement was afterwards incorporated into the general BankAct of 1890, the deposit had to be made with the Receiver-General. In an Act to amend the charter of the Bank ofMontreal, passed in 1861, 5 that bank was permitted toestablish and maintain a guarantee fund to take the place ofthe bonds or securities required from its officers.It was alsopermitted to change the designation of its principal officerfrom "chief cashier" to "general manager," a change soonuniversally adopted.*22 Viet., 1859, c. cii. This is not the bank now bearing that name.*2S Viet., 1860, c. cxvi'24 Viet., 1861, c. xc.*29-30 Viet.. 1866, c. Ixxxviii.*24 Viet., 1861, c. xci.