Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

APPENDIX X.NOTE ISSUES.The first issue of The Canadian Bank of Commerce wasengraved by the British American Bank Note Company, andwas dated May 1, 1867. It consisted of notes of the denominationsof $1, $2, $5 and $10, which bore the engraved signatureof the Hon. William McMaster as president. The face of thenote was printed in black, with the denomination in figures, orin both words and figures, in an underlying green tint. Thedesign on the back isaltogether in green, the lettering appearingas white on a green background. The serial number is printedin blue and some notes are surcharged with the name of theissuing branch in blue. 1On May 12, 1870, the first general Bank Act of theDominion of Canada received the Royal assent. Section 4of this Act 2provided that no bank obtaining a charter underthe new Act should issue any note for a less sum than $4, andthat the existing banks should, after the charter came into force,call in and redeem as soon as practicable all such notes thenoutstanding. Accordingly, arrangements were at once madeto issue a $4 note to replace the old ones and twos, and at thesame time a $50 note was added to the issue. 3 The new notesbear date July 1,1870, and are similar in design, and in allother particulars recorded above, to the notes of the first issue.Only twelve of these $50 notes are now outstanding. The $4notes remained in use for ten years, or until the revision of theBank Act in 1880, when the power to issue notes for smallersums than $5 was withdrawn from the banks.*See plates 71 and 72, facing pages 502 and 510.*33 Viet., 1870, c. 11.'See plates 71 and 72, facing pages 502 and 510.