is levied on the solvent banks in proportion to their circulation.

Regarding loans and discounts, the law aims rather to protect than to
restrict the operations of the banks. They may "deal in, discount, and
lend money, and make advances upon the security of, and may take as
collateral security for any loans, ... bills of exchange, promissory
notes, and other negotiable securities, or the stocks, bonds,
debentures, and obligations of municipal and other corporations,
whether secured by mortgage or otherwise, or Dominion, provincial,
British, foreign, and other public securities." The only important
restriction placed upon their loaning activities is the prohibition of
making advances on the security of landed or other immovable property.

In making loans to wholesale dealers and shippers of produce, the law
safeguards the banks by allowing them to take a blanket lien on the
goods dealt in by the borrower. This lien applies not only to the
goods in possession at the date of making the loan, but to any others
which may be substituted for them or manufactured out of them. This
lien is prior to that of any other unpaid vendor, except one acquired
before the bank's lien was established.

The chief officers of a Canadian bank are the general manager, the
chief accountant, the superintendent of branches, the inspector, and
the secretary, all connected with the head office, and the managers of
the branches.

The general manager is the chief executive and the chief in authority.
While he is subject to the board of directors, on account of his wide
experience and knowledge his judgment is usually followed. The other
officers are appointed by him with the approval of the board, but,
almost without exception, from persons who have served the bank in
subordinate capacities. The general manager himself is nearly always a
man who has passed through the hierarchy of positions from the bottom
up, and is therefore thoroughly familiar with every detail of the
bank's business and history. The inspector has charge of the
examination of the branches, and this work is so carefully and
thoroughly done that examination by public officials is not considered
necessary, or regarded as desirable by most Canadian bankers.
Regarding this matter, however, there are differences of opinion, and
changes in the near future are not improbable. The managers of the
branches are in strict subordination to the authority of the general
manager, though th