The following table shows how the clearing system of the city and of the country has developed:
| Year Ending | ||
| Clearings. | May, 1902. | December, 1911. |
| Montreal | $ 982,455,000 | $2,370,487,000 |
| Toronto | 710,860,000 | 1,852,397,000 |
| Winnipeg | 155,506,000 | 1,170,763,000 |
| Vancouver | 49,675,000 | 543,484,000 |
| Calgary | 218,681,000 | |
| Ottawa | 213,932,000 | |
| Victoria | 29,071,000 | 134,929,000 |
| Quebec | 133,319,000 | |
| Hamilton | 43,388,000 | 125,251,000 |
| Edmonton | 121,447,000 | |
| Halifax | 91,545,000 | 88,194,000 |
| St. John | 40,734,000 | 77,328,000 |
| Regina | 73,032,000 | |
| London | 71,534,000 | |
| Saskatoon | 56,757,000 | |
| Brandon | 29,430,000 | |
| Lethbridge | 28,818,000 | |
| Brantford | 27,806,000 | |
| ——————— | ——————— | |
| $2,103,234,000 | $7,337,615,000 | |
In 1902 Montreal’s average daily clearing was about $3,270,000; and in 1911 it was $7,900,000.
The outstanding feature of this exhibit is the progress of the great cities of the West. In ratio of increase the Western cities far surpass the Eastern cities. Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton are rushing to the front. Of course, the growth of the clearings of these secondary centers serves to swell the clearings at Montreal and Toronto. Ultimate settlement of differences or balances at the smaller places is made by putting through drafts on the greater centers.
Montreal stands well up in the list of North American cities in the matter of bank clearings, her position being from seventh to ninth. But, when the clearings of a Canadian city are compared with the clearings of a United States city, it should be remembered that the existence of the branch system in Canada has a tendency, in some respects, to make our figures appear less. For example, the cheques and items drawn on or payable at the Bank of Montreal, Montreal, which the other branches of the Bank of Montreal receive each day, do not figure in the daily clearings. Each institution clears within itself every day a very large aggregate of transactions.
The banks of Canada originating from Montreal now have an international reputation. The greatest financial institutions and the most famous financiers of Europe and America regard our leading banks as worthy of their respect. Our banks have established their branches in the United States, Mexico, the West Indies, Newfoundland, and in England and France; and they do useful work in all those countries.
II. INSURANCE
A. FIRE
The Phœnix Fire Company, established in Montreal in 1804, was not only the first insurance company in Canada, but it was the first insurance corporation to leave England in search of business. It was founded by a company of merchants to insure their sugar warehouses, and being an innovation, most business houses in England up till then having been composed of partnerships, it was severely frowned upon by the “experts.” Seeing that many British firms were desirous of insuring their Canadian property it decided to establish its office here the better to be able to handle such policies. It soon found that there was a good field for its activities outside of English owned buildings and its Canadian office was a flourishing adjunct by the time 1811 was reached. It was destined to have the field all to itself until 1818, either because it had firmly entrenched itself during this time or because Montreal and Canada in those days offered a very unattractive sphere from an insurance point of view. The Phœnix in those early days won for itself a splendid reputation and grew to be recognized in the light of a bounteous institution by the people of Eastern Canada, and today it successfully holds its own against its younger rivals in the city, while in the country districts, where tradition probably counts for more, it is a household word and people insure with it for the not inadequate reason that their fathers and grandfathers did. The Phœnix Company not only introduced fire insurance to the rank and file among our Canadian people, but it encouraged the formation of fire fighting forces, itself donating engines, the city of Montreal being a recipient of one of these machines, which put it in possession of probably the first piece of fire fighting apparatus it ever owned.
In 1818 the Phœnix monopoly in Canada was challenged at Quebec by the Quebec Fire Insurance Company, which was established in that year in the Ancient Capital, its formation being the first practical effort on the part of Canadians to get a share of the lucrative business which must have been obtainable at that time for a corporation operating “on the ground floor” as it were. The second insurance office to be established in Montreal itself was the result of the enterprise of the Ætna Fire Insurance Company, a concern which had been constituted in Hartford, Connecticut, that birthplace of so many great fire and life institutions, in 1819.