Nearly all the English railway companies are connected with Liverpool. The London and North Western, the Lancashire and Yorkshire and the Midland Railway companies have large and commodious passenger stations. In 1895 a new riverside railway station was opened for the convenience of ocean travelers. There are 100 stations in the Liverpool area. The city connected by canals with the manufacturing towns of Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Midlands. Within recent years the Mersey Railway, which connects Liverpool with Birkenhead by a tunnel under the river, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire line to Southport were electrified, and the latter was connected at Seaforth with the Overhead Electric Railway which runs along the line of docks from The Dingle.
Trade and Liverpool has a few manufactures, but it is essentially a port. So far as the export trade is concerned statistics prove that it is the leading port in the United Kingdom, while for imports it is second only to London. It is the natural outlet for the great manufacturing industries of Lancashire, and most of the raw cotton is imported here. The total value of exports to the United States in 1917 was $24,065,832 compared with $30,144,189 in 1916, a decrease due to the war of over $6 000,000 chiefly in Egyptian cotton. Shipments of manufactured goods, however, increased from n,200.834 in 1916 to $10,444,820 in 1917, a gain of $2.243,986. Not the least important part of the shipping industry is the ocean pas senger traffic. Connected with the port of Liverpool are fleets of the largest ships afloat, and the daily sailings and arrivals of these steamers to and from all the great ports in the world draw to the city large numbers of emi grants and other passengers. The tonnage of arrivals and departures, Including Birkenhead, But excluding coastwise shipping, was in 1914 22,771,000 tons.
The first wet dock dates from 1715, when an area of four acres was enclosed. The Mersey Docks and Harbor Board, which was constituted by act of Parliament in 1858, has control of the systems of Liverpool, Birken head and Bootle. There are 65 wet docks, which, from Gladstone Dock at the north end to the Herculaneum Dock at the south end, occupy a river frontage of over seven miles, with a water area of 450 acres, and quayage ex tending for 27 miles. Herculaneum Dock has a fine petroleum reservoir cut out in solid rock, with a holding capacity of 60,000 gallons. The Birkenhead Docks on the south side of the river have a water area of 172 acres and a quay length of 10 miles. The warehouses of the port, particularly those devoted to the stor age of grain and tobacco, arc of gigantic dimen sions, and fitted with every modern appliance. The great passenger steamers nearly all embark and discharge their passengers at the landing stage, which is one of the attractions of the city.
Landing It is a floating structure 2,478 feet in length with a general width of about 80 feet. The northern portion of this
stage is allotted to the use of the ocean going and coasting steamers, while the southern por tion is reserved for the busy ferry traffic across the river to the Cheshire coast..
River One of the most import ant duties of the Mersey Dock Board is the dredging of the river and increasing the depth of water at the bar which is 11 miles from the landing stage. By the end of the year 1909 nearly 42,000,000 tons of sand had been removed from the bar. The revetment of certain sand banks has also been undertaken, with 100,000 tons of stone to protect the under stone from erosion. Before dredging was commenced the depth of water at low water of spring tides was 11 feet, whilst now under the same conditions there is a depth of 30 feet.
Such are the efforts necessary to maintain the city in that position so eloquently described by James R. Lowell in the words which appro priately close this notice: ((Liverpool is one end of the three thousand mile loom on which the shuttles which are binding us all in visible ties more and more together are continually shoot ing to and fro.'" The history of Liverpool practi cally dates from the issue of the letter patent, or charter, by King John in 1207, and the erec tion of a castle. This latter structure has long since disappeared, part of its site being now occupied by a statue of Queen Victoria. In 1709 a wet dock was constructed, the first in the kingdom. From this event dated the rapid ex tension of its commerce and population. In 1880 Liverpool was made the see of a bishop, and in that year a charter was granted consti tuting it a city. The town developed very slowly until after the civil wars, in which it played a prominent part, being besieged three times. The facts stated in this article will prove that Liverpool is in every sense of the word a modern city, its development during the 19th century being almost unparalleled.
Liverpool is justly proud of the distinguished men and women who have been either born within its boundaries or associated with it. There are statues of William Roscoe, William Ewart Gladstone, William Rathbone and others, while the birthplaces of Mrs. Hemans, Arthur Hugh Clough and W. E. Gladstone have had memorial tablets placed on them. The house at Rock Ferry, wherein Nathaniel Haw thorne resided, is well known.
Baines,