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Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

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THE ARCHIVES DEPARTMENT 501and this need Mr. Asman has met admirably. In later yearsthe reputation of the department in this respect has grownuntil many enquiriesare received from outside sources, senthere by public libraries or other public bodies of a similarcharacter, and it may fairly be said that rarely is the informationasked for unavailable.It has been stated that this period of the bank's historywas one of rapid growth; it was also that during whichthe principal amalgamations with other banks occurred.The Bank of British Columbia had been taken over in 1901,the Halifax Banking Company in 1903, and the MerchantsBank of Prince Edward Island in 1906. The Eastern TownshipsBank was to follow in 1912. It was the period of theopening up of the West, and the number of the bank's branchesand the volume of its business increased very rapidly. Allthis was soon reflected in the increased quantity of old recordsto be cared for, and the problem of providing space for thefuture began to press for a solution. The basement of thehead office building had already been filled almost to theceiling with boxes of old vouchers, and the basements of twoof the larger city branches were next requisitioned, but therelief thus gained was only temporary. Besides it had be<strong>com</strong>eincreasingly difficult to obtain access to a voucher, whenrequired, or to find space for the sorting and preparation fordestruction of time-expired records. At that time all suchrecords were carted away to a paper-mill on the outskirts ofthe city, where they were either destroyed by into pulp under the supervision of officers of the bank. Ithad been found impracticable to permit the sorting andfire or madedestruction to be done at the branches, partly because of thelack of suitable facilities and partly because of the impossibilityof maintaining the same system throughout the service.The decision was finally reached about 1912 that theerection of a building for storage purposes, equipped with thenecessary facilities and situated in a part of the city whereland was less valuable than in the business centre, was a step

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