In a country situated as Canada was, having the larger part of its banking business connected with the gathering of produce over wide areas, and the shipping of it over long distances, with a corresponding process in the supplying of manufactured goods, whether from foreign countries or Canadian centres, economy and efficiency alike required a system of banking where the same institution could afford accommodation at fairly uniform rates over wide areas, and in many centres simultaneously. Obviously these objects were best secured by a few large banks with numerous branches.-Professor Shortt's History of Canadian Currency, Banking and Exchange, in the Journal of the Canadian Bankers' Association.