ncluding a subscribed capital of at least
$500,000 and a paid-up capital of at least $250,000. The number of
branches, however, has increased rapidly, much more rapidly than the
population.

The most noteworthy legal provisions pertaining to the banking
business in Canada concern note issues and loans and discounts.
Regarding the establishment of branches, the amount, and, with one
exception, the composition of the reserves, and many other matters
carefully regulated by law in the United States, Canadian bankers are
left free to follow their own judgment. Neither is there public
examination of banks in Canada. Reports must be regularly made to the
Minister of Finance, and he may call for special reports whenever he
desires so to do; but neither he nor any other public officer has the
right to examine a bank's books or to quiz its officers or directors.
In contrast with banking legislation in the United States, another
peculiar feature of Canadian law is the incorporation of the Canadian
Bankers' Association, an organization resembling in essentials the
American Bankers' Association, and the assignment to it of important
functions connected with the issue of notes and the winding up of the
affairs of failed banks.

Regarding note issues, the chief provisions of the Canadian law are as
follows: Each bank is permitted at any time to issue circulating notes
to the amount of its capital stock, and between October 1 and January
1 an additional amount, equal to fifteen per cent of its combined
capital and surplus, may be issued on payment of a tax to be assessed
by the Governor in Council, not to exceed five per cent per annum.
The notes are a first lien on all the assets of the bank that issued
them, and must be redeemed on demand at the head office and at such
other places as are designated by a committee of public officials
known as the Treasury Board. As such redemption centers, this board
has named Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Victoria, St. John,
and Charlottetown. Each bank must also deposit with the Minister of
Finance a sum of money equal to five per cent of its average
circulation. The aggregate of the amounts thus deposited by all the
banks is known as the "circulation redemption fund," and may be used
in the redemption of the notes of a failed bank. In case the fund is
so used, and the liquidated assets of the bank prove to be inadequate
for its complete replenishment, a tax sufficient to meet the deficit