Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

532 HISTORY OF THE BANKdistinguishing between items which belonged to the one returnand those which belonged to the other. To correct this,a detailed list of entries which belonged to each was issued,to which additions were made from time to time as newproblems arose. In the absence of a sufficient knowledgeof banking, the junior officers, among whose duties were usuallythe writing of these returns, found it impossible to grasp theprinciples underlying these regulations, and came to the conclusionthat they were purely arbitrary. The older officers ofthe bank still retain a vivid recollection of the bewilderment ofa new junior clerk when it first fell to his lot to write the Adviceand Remittance List, and of the many errors that were constantlymade, bringing down upon the staff the censure ofhead office.Thus the matter stood when the head office was made aseparate organization from the Toronto branch, on September15, 1875. Thereafter the branch returns were addressed toand dealt with by the head office itself, the Toronto officeoccupying a relationship to the head office similar to that ofany other branch.As the intention of the Advice and Remittance List wasto provide the head office with prompt advice of the entriesoriginating at each branch, a circular was issued on August 10,1879, asking to have it sent in daily. The Head Office AccountCurrent was sent in at least twice a week, or daily by thelarger offices.As illustrating the immense amount of repetition of clericallabour that was for many years thought necessary in order toensure accuracy and convenience of reference in the bank'srecords and accounts, it may be mentioned that a circular wasissued to the branches on January 14, 1880, stating that itwould thereafter be unnecessary to post from the cash-bookand journal into the general ledgers of the branches, or into aspecial book kept for the purpose, all the details of the itemsdebited and credited in the Head Office Account. It was alsodiscovered that much time and labour could be saved at head