Deposits By Other Banks

Among the first customers with whom the teller has to deal are the clerks from the other banks, who will have deposits for the bank similar to that which the teller has just been preparing for them. There being no clearing houses in the lesser towns, an account is kept in the general ledger for each of the other banks in town. They are debited with what the teller sends out to them and credited with what they send in. As for the balances, or differences between deposits, there will probably be an arrangement to have them run until a certain maximum, usually $1,000 or $2,000, is exceeded; then the debtor bank must settle with the creditor by giving it a draft on one of the settling centres-Montreal, Toronto, or Winnipeg.

How "Sundries" Are Disposed Of

During the previous day there will also have been received a quantity of notes of other banks not having branches in town. These are called "sundries." They are allowed to accumulate till a parcel of $1000 can be made of them, and then are shipped to the nearest centre-where redemption will be made. All banks must arrange, under the terms of the Bank Act, to redeem their notes at one chief place in every province.

We shall suppose that there are enough sundries for a parcel, and that one is to be despatched, say, to Montreal. It will go to the Montreal branch of the bank, and the Montreal teller, whose duty is to receive money parcels from the branches, will see to it that all the notes sent in the parcel are duly presented at the banks whose names they bear, in the Montreal branch's regular daily clearance.

But the Montreal teller is not expected to sort them They must go to him, each bank's notes properly sorted and ticketed. Little slips or specifications are provided for this, called bordereaux. When the sundries are sorted, ticketed, and ready for packaging, the parcel is checked by another officer in the same way and for the same purpose as the cash in the other bank's deposits was checked. Sealed and addressed, the parcel is entered in the parcel book under a number, and is called parcel number so-and-so. An officer and guard are sent to the express office, (or to the post-office, if sent by registered mail, insured), after first initialling for the package in the parcel book. They bring back the proper receipt from the express company or the post-office. The teller must send an advice of the parcel to the addressee.

Now we see that the teller has parted with an amount of cash and cash items. There was a deposit for each of the other two banks and this parcel of $1,000 for Montreal. His entries are as follows: When he gets the bank books back with his deposits entered and initialled, the amount shown in each may be entered on the debit side of his blotter. When his parcel is com-plete and ready to send he makes out a slip debiting Montreal branch with $1,000, giving the parcel number. On his being shown the parcel, or the receipt for it, the accountant initials this slip, and it becomes one of the vouchers of the day. The three debits, of course, effect a reduction equal to their total in the cash book balance.