The description, just completed, of the routine and work of a country branch applies also, so far as general principles are concerned, to the city branch. But, of course, the work in a large city office is a great deal more specialized. For example, the current account ledger and the savings bank ledger might be assigned in the country office to one clerk. In the city, on the other hand, there would be one man or two men on the savings bank ledger, and there might be three or more current account ledgers, each having its special keeper. Similarly with the discounts and the other departments - in the country office one man will have sole charge of one or more departments, while in the cities the work of each department is split up into parts, a man being assigned to each part. In some respects, therefore, as already remarked in an earlier chapter, the country office is the more favorable for acquiring an all-round knowledge of banking. In a much shorter space of time the beginner gets an experience of the various departments. He has a more comprehensive view of the whole business. If he is in a large city office his attention each day will be pretty well taken up with the one-sixth or the one-fifth part of a department. But in the country he will have to do with two or three departments, and will be able to see more clearly what is going on in all.

The Messenger

In the city office the junior does not figure at the foot of the pay-list. Below him stand the messengers. In the Canadian bank the messengers occupy a place of their own. They are distinct from the staff proper in that they are not called upon to do the clerical work of the bank, except probably the addressing and recording of letters and such like. The messenger is usually taken on at a maturer age than the junior; before entering the bank's service he may have been a workingman. His pay will be higher than that drawn by the junior, but he is not commonly regarded as eligible for promotion.

However, if he is young and possessed of the requisite education, there is nothing to prevent his entering the staff proper as a junior, and from that post working his way up like any other.

The messenger's duties are varied. He acts as porter and night guard. He has charge of the book vaults, brings out the books in the mornings and takes them back at night. He is the polite and obliging usher on the watch through banking hours for persons unfamiliar with the bank's methods; he will guide all such to the proper wickets and show them how to transact their business. He is on the watch for pickpockets and other crooks. He takes the collection bills out, presenting all drafts on the parties on whom drawn. He convoys all parcels of money and valuables sent to the clearing house, other banks, the express office, and post-office. He runs messages for the manager and other high officers of the bank. Generally he wears a uniform when on duty. Though he customarily remains a messenger, his salary is subject to regular or occasional increases and he may rise to respectable emolument.

A large office may have three, four, or more of these messengers, the duties being divided among them.