Education.—Sunday schools were founded in 1784, as the result of a town's meeting. These were soon followed by day schools. Mention should be made of the training ship "In defatigable" moored in the Mersey for the sons and orphans of sailors, and the Borstal institution at Heswall, Cheshire. Semi private schools were founded by public subscription—the Royal Institution school (1819), the Liverpool Institute (1825) and the Liverpool College (1840). The first has ceased to exist. The Institute, a development of the Mechanics' Institute, was divided into a high school and a commercial school. This school, together with the Blackburne House high school for girls, became a public secondary school and was handed over to the corporation in 1905. Liverpool College was formerly divided into three schools, upper, middle and lower, for different classes of the community. The mid dle and lower schools passed into the control of the corporation in 1907. A cadet ship, the "Conway," for the training of boys for the mercantile marine, is moored in the Mersey. There are many educational institutions of all kinds. Liverpool has a relay station for the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The University.—Liverpool University, as a University Col lege received its charter in 1881, and in 1884 was admitted as a college of the Victoria University. In the same year the medical school of the Royal Infirmary became part of the University Col lege. A supplemental charter (1900) brought the college into closer relations with the city authorities. In 1903 a charter of in corporation constituted it as the University of Liverpool. The large group of buildings is situated on Brownlow Hill.
The university developed rapidly, particularly after the war of 1914-18. New chairs were established in classical archaeology, geography, commerce, civic design, social science, applied math ematics, organic chemistry, industrial chemistry (fats and oils), bacteriology, geology, entomology, parasitology, dental surgery, veterinary anatomy, care of animals (causation and prevention of disease), international law, engineering, electrical machinery, ap plied mechanics, civil engineering, metallurgy and naval archi tecture; with a School of Tropical Medicine, a Department of Town Planning, a Tidal Institute (1919) and other specialities. In connection with the department of oceanography a sea fisheries laboratory is maintained at Port Erin. Extensive researches are carried on in the local sea fisheries in regard to fish-disease and kindred subjects. Departments have also been instituted in poetry, music, art of the theatre, mediaeval history, analysis of observations, geology, cytology, pharmacology, radiology and elec trology, orthopaedic surgery, parasitology, chemical physiology, public health chemistry and refrigeration. Degrees are now given
for commerce, architecture, hygiene, orthopaedic surgery, veter inary science and philosophy ; diplomas have been instituted in radiology and electrology, tropical hygiene, archaeology, geog raphy and social studies; and there are fellowships for modern history, English literature, Celtic, chemistry, anatomy, ortho paedic surgery, engineering, and scholarships in the departments of architecture, research (offered in the faculties of arts, science and engineering in rotation), chemistry, marine biology, medical subjects, engineering and law. The University Extension board has greatly extended its influence ; and new University buildings include the Students' Union and Gilmour Hall, the arts and engi neering building extensions, the school of tropical medicine, chemistry school extension, department of geology, hall of resi dence for women extension, dental school extension, athletic pavilion, and the laboratory for research in tropical diseases (Sierra Leone) ; while residential buildings, including a number of the fine merchants' houses in Abercromby Square, have been altered and equipped for the purposes of the various departments. The number of students (1927) was 2,049 with 386 professors and lecturers.
Trade and Commerce.—In 1800 the tonnage of ships entering the port was 450,060; in 1922 it reached 31,645,368 tons. The commerce of Liverpool extends to every part of the world, but probably the intercourse with North America stands pre-eminent, there being lines of steamers to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Galveston, New Orleans and the Canadian ports. Cot ton is the great staple import. Grain (wheat, maize, flour, oats and barley) comes next, chiefly from America (North and South) and Australia. An enormous trade in chilled and frozen meat has been developed. Tobacco, sugar and rum have always been leading imports into Liverpool, and the import of fruit is rapidly increasing. Timber forms an important import, the stacking yards extending for miles along the northern docks. In regard to exports : Liverpool is excellently situated, lying so near the great manufac turing districts of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, this port is the natural channel of transmission for their goods, although the Manchester ship canal diverts a certain proportion of the traffic, while coal and salt are also largely exported.