Question 187. - A suburban office of a city bank (or a bank not a member of the clearing house) receives a cheque from a customer on Saturday at ten o'clock a.m., hands the same to its city office (or its clearing bank) on Monday, and such city office (or clearing bank) presents it for payment on Tuesday through the clearing house. Was the said cheque in your opinion presented for payment within a reasonable time within the meaning of the Bills of Exchange Act?

Answer. - We think so. The question is to be determined by the nature of the instrument, the usage of trade, and the facts of the particular case, section 86 (2). It is customary for persons receiving cheques to deposit them with their bankers, for such bankers to forward them to their correspondents for collection, when they are not drawn on banks with which they make direct exchanges, and for the correspondents to present them for payment through the clearing house or otherwise on the following day. If such a mode of collection is admitted to be reasonable, and each party negotiates or forwards the cheque within twenty-four hours after it is received by him, the procedure is clearly in order. The Act contemplates a negotiation of cheques, which might delay their presentment without necessarily discharging the endorser. (See section 70 (2-3), and compare section 77 as to sight bills).