Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

1867 TO 1901 59that you should aim at endeavouring to get a considerableamount of the new stock paid in time to assist us in conductingthe Fall business. And as no man can tell what complicationsmay ultimately arise from the present war, I trust you will bealive to the importance of studiously avoiding all new businessthat is likely to lock up funds for any length of time."I have seen and talked over matters with the manager ofthe London and County Bank, and have reason to fear thatour arrangements with that institution cannot be muchimproved. I have never beheld such long faces as are to beseen in London among all parties connected with moneymatters. Speculation has run high, and the war broughtthings to a sudden stand. Under ordinary circumstances,financial men could calculate with some degree of certainty asto when the storm would be likely to blow past, but having tolook at things through war spectacles, all seems dark andmysterious respecting the future, and as a natural consequenceneither banks nor private capitalists seem disposed to entertainnew proposals of any kind."The next week or two were spent by the Senator innegotiating with the London banks for the facilities he wishedto obtain. He soon decided that the London and CountyBank could not be expected to meet his views, and thoughtof entering into negotiations with the London Joint StockBank. He learned, however, from Mr. J. G. Harper, 1 formerlymanager of the Merchants Bank of Canada, Toronto, that theMerchants Bank kept its account with the London JointStock Bank, so he decided to approach the Union Bank ofLondon, which had acted as agent for the Bank of Montrealuntil the latter opened a branch in London. There weretwo concessions which Mr. McMaster desired to secure. Onewas a decrease in the rate of commission charged onacceptances, so as to enable his bank to compete on more1Mr, Harper was then in London on a visit prior to taking up his new appointmentas manager of the branch of The Canadian Bank of Commerce about to be opened inMontreal. See page 61.