Lancashire

Industries and Trade.

South Lancashire is the principal seat of the cotton manufacture in the world, the trade centring upon Manchester. The worsted, woollen, artificial silk and silk manu factures, flax, hemp and jute industries, are also important. The manufacture of machines, appliances, conveyances, locomotives, motor vehicles, etc., is very important, especially in supplying the needs of the immense weaving and spinning industries. For the same purpose there is a large branch industry in the manu facture of wooden bobbins. The manufacture of iron and steel is carried on at Barrow-in-Furness, there are great glass works at St. Helens, watch-making works at Prescot and leather and soap works at Warrington. Printing, bleaching, dyeing works, paper and chemical works, rubber and tobacco manufactures are also important activities of this great industrial region.

Besides the port of Liverpool, of world-wide importance, the principal ports are Manchester, brought into communication with the sea by the Manchester Ship canal (q.v.) (opened 1894), Barrow-in-Furness, Fleetwood, Heysham, Preston and Lancaster. The sea fisheries, for which Fleetwood and Liverpool are the chief ports, are of considerable value.

Communications.

Apart from the Manchester Ship canal, canal traffic is still important in the industrial area In 1760 the Sankey canal, io m. long, the first canal opened in Britain (apart from early works), was constructed from St. Helens to Liver pool. Other similar enterprises followed; the Bridgwater canal from Manchester to Worsley (1761), the Leeds and Liverpool canal (130 m. long, begun 1770), the Rochdale canal, the Man chester (to Huddersfield) canal, Lancaster canal (connecting Preston and Kendal) and the Ulverston canal. A network of rail ways principally of the L.M.S. system connects the industrial centres. Many suburban lines have been electrified.

On July 18, 19.34, King George opened a tunnel under the River Mersey which had been constructed for vehicular traffic at a cost of L8,000,000. This important link between Liverpool and Birkenhead is two miles long and the largest under-water tunnel in the world. It was named Queensway.

Population and Administration.

The area of the ancient county is 1,203,365 ac. and of administrative county I ,200,I 2 2 with

associated county boroughs. The ancient county was divided into four divisions which were as follows:—the northern division, which embraces all the country north of the Ribble, including Furness and a small area south of the Ribble estuary, is the largest of the divisions; the north eastern division which lies east of Preston, is the smallest divi sion ; the south-western division, which represents roughly the quadrant with a radius of 20 m. drawn from Liverpool and the south-eastern division, which has about the same area as the south-western and is the heart of the industrial region. The f ol lowing table shows the distribution of the various administrative bodies in the four divisions of the county.

There are three cities in the county, Liverpool, Manchester and Salford and three cathedral towns, Manchester, Liverpool and Blackburn.

Lancashire is one of the counties palatine, comprises six hun dreds, is in the northern circuit, and assizes are held at Lancaster, Liverpool and Manchester. There is one court of quarter ses sions and the county is divided into 61 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Liverpool, Man chester, Oldham, Salford and Wigan have separate commissions of the peace and courts of quarter sessions; and those of Accring ton, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bacup, Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool, Bootle, Clitheroe, Lancaster, Preston, Rochdale, St. Helens, South port and Warrington have separate commissions of the peace only. Lancashire is mainly in the diocese of Manchester, but parts are in those of Liverpool, Blackburn, Carlisle, Ripon, Chester and Wakefield.

Manchester and Liverpool are both seats of universities and of other important educational institutions. Within the county there are many denominational colleges, and near Clitheroe is the famous Roman Catholic college of Stoneyhurst. There are train ing departments for teachers in connection with the Manchester and Liverpool universities, and also at Edgehill, near Liverpool (school-mistresses), Liverpool (school-masters, Roman Catholic), Warrington (school-mistresses, Church of England) and Manches ter (municipal, day).