The manufactures of Liverpool are not extensive. Unsuccessful attempts have been repeatedly made to establish cotton mills in and near the city. Engineering works, especially connected with marine navigation, have grown up on a large scale. Shipbuilding, in the early part of the 19th century, was active and prosperous, but has practically ceased. There is now, however, a considerable industry in ship-repairing for which purpose there are 36 graving docks. During the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, pottery and china manufacture flourished in Liverpool. A large establishment, called the Herculaneum Pottery, was founded in a suburb on the bank of the Mersey, but the trade long ago disappeared. Litherland, the inventor of the lever watch, was a Liverpool manufacturer, and Liverpool-made watches have al ways been held in high esteem. There are several extensive sugar refineries and important corn mills. The confectionery trade has developed during recent years, several large biscuit-works hav ing been built, induced by the prospect of obtaining cheap sugar directly from the Liverpool quays. The cutting, blending and pre paring of crude tobacco have led to the erection of factories em ploying some thousands of hands. There are also large mills for oil-pressing and making cattle-cake. A large number of firms are engaged in various branches of the chemical industry. Liverpool is the second largest milling centre in the world, and among the many industrial undertakings for which the town and its environs are celebrated are glass factories, bobbin works, match factories; cable, electrical and telephone engineering works; tanneries; rope, sack, and bag factories, cement works, and salt works.
Docks.—The docks of the port of Liverpool on both sides of the Mersey are owned and managed by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. On the Liverpool side they extend along the estu ary 61 m., of which I+ m. is in the borough of Bootle. The Garston docks, 6 m. above Liverpool, are also within the city boundary. The Birkenhead docks have not such a frontage, but extend a long way backward. The water area of the Liverpool docks and basins is 4741 ac. with a linear quayage of nearly 29 miles. The Birken head docks, including the great float of 120 ac., contain a water area of 1701 ac., with a lineal quayage of m. The system of enclosed docks was begun by the corporation in 1709. The Glad stone Docks, opened 1927, are among the best equipped in the world. The sill is 20 ft. below datum level and the entrance is 130 ft. wide and the area with branch docks is nearly 54 acres. A fine graving dock is part of the system. Down to 1843 the docks were confined to the Liverpool side of the Mersey. In 1843 a scheme for docks in Birkenhead was carried through, proved unsuccessful, and was acquired in 1855 by Liverpool. The Birkenhead docks were for many years only partially used, but are now an important centre for corn-milling and oil-cake making, the importation of foreign cattle and export trade to the East.
The first portion of the great landing stage, known as the Georges' stage, was constructed in 1847. This was 500 ft. long. In 1857 the Prince's stage, I,000 ft. long, was built to the north of the Georges' stage and distant from it 500 feet. In 1874 the interven
ing space was filled up and the Georges' stage reconstructed, but being destroyed by fire was reconstructed a second time. In 1896 it was extended farther north, and its length is now 2,478 ft. and its breadth 8o feet. It is supported on floating pontoons (about 200), connected with the river wall by eight bridges, besides a floating bridge for heavy traffic 55o ft. in length and 35 ft. in width. The southern half is devoted to the traffic of the Mersey ferries, of which there are seven—New Brighton, Egremont, Seacombe, Bir kenhead, Rock Ferry, New Ferry and Eastham. The northern half is used by ocean-going steamers and their tenders. The warehouses for storing produce form a prominent feature in the commercial part of the city. In addition to general produce warehouses, grain warehouses have been constructed by the dock board at Liverpool and Birkenhead, with machinery for discharging, elevating, dis tributing, drying and delivering. Warehouses for the storage of tobacco and wool have also been built by the board. The Stanley tobacco warehouse is the largest of its kind in the world, the area of its fourteen floors being some 36 acres.
Dredging operations at the bar in the Queen's channel and at the landing stage enables the largest ocean liners to enter the river and approach the stage at practically all states of the tide. The dredging at the bar was begun in September 1890, when the depth of water at dead low water of spring tides on the bar was only II ft.; now there is about 28 ft. under the same conditions. The space over which dredging has been carried on at the bar measures about 7,000 ft. by 1,250 ft., the latter being the average width of the buoyed channel through the bar. Dredging has also taken place on shoals and projections of sand-banks in the main sea channels.
Under the Municipal Reform Act of 1835, the boundaries of the original borough were extended, while further additions were made in 1895, 1902, 1905 and 1913. In 1893 the title of mayor was raised to that of lord mayor. In 1918 the number of mem bers of parliament was increased to eleven. The corporation of Liverpool has possessed from a very early period considerable landed property, the first grant having been made by Thomas, earl of Lancaster, in 1309. This land was originally of value only as a source of supply of turf for firing, but in modern times it has become profitable building land. A large proportion of the southern district is held in freehold by the corporation and leased to tenants for terms of seventy-five years, renewable on a fixed scale of fines. The fee farm rents and town dues originally belonging to the crown were purchased from the Molyneux family in 1672 on a long lease, and in 1777 converted into a perpetuity. With the growth of commerce these dues enormously increased, and became a cause of great complaint by the shipping interest. In 1856, by act of parliament, the town dues were transferred to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board on payment of £1,500,000. which was applied in part to the liquidation of the bonded debt of the corporation, amounting to £1,150,000.