Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

446 HISTORY OF THE BANKand not specially secured, and Notes and bills discounted,overdue and secured.To judge by the returns from the banks as published in theCanada Gazette, none of them operated under the provisionsof this Act, although provision was made in it for their obtaining,on application to the Governor-General, extensions oftheir charters to which its provisions would apply. Theform of the returns appearing in the Canada Gazette does notchange until July, 1871, when the later Act of 1871, to bereferred to hereafter, came into force. It would thereforeappear that the extension for two yearsof the Act of 1867already mentioned, 1 contained in section 9, was considered asextending for a similar period the charters of the banks workingunder it, which otherwise expired on May 12, 1870, the last dayof the Parliamentary session of 1870. This minimizes theimportance of the Act of 1870, but the fact that its provisionswere incorporated with little change in the Act of the followingyear makes itnecessary to refer to it.The whole of the law relating to banking underwent a morethorough revision during 1871, when the Acts of 1867 and 1870were replaced by a 2general Act, the first to be in operation for aterm of approximately ten years, or until July 1, 1881. Itwas thus that the custom of decennial revisions was introduced,which has been maintained ever since, although extensionsfor one year have twice been enacted without revision, andin some special cases amendments have been made duringthe term.The Act of 1871 embodied the fundamental principles ofthe charters of the first Bank of the United States and of theBank of Montreal, and all the more important provisionsincluded in subsequent charters, but made certain ch;nintended to adapt the banking system to the growing economicrequirements of the new Dominion. The sections were groupedaccording to subject; there were, for example, groups of sections131 Viet., 1867, c. xi, and see page 430.S4 Viet., 1871, c.v.