MANCHESTER, mareelffis-ter. A city, civic county, municipal and Parliamentary borough, and inland port of Lancashire, England, the great centre of the cotton manufacture, on the 'mei]. 32 miles east-northeast of Liverpool, and 188 miles north-northwest of London (Map: Eng land. D 3). The principal public buildings are the Gothic Town Hall. built at the cost of more than a million pounds sterling; the Royal In firmary, the Royal Exchange. the Royal Institu tion, all in the Grecian style; the Free Trade Hall, in composite, and the Assize Courts, in decorated Gothic; many of the mercantile estab lishments are palatial in appearance. Among ecclesiastical buildings the cathedral, commonly called the 'Old Church.' begun in 1422. is a very fine Gothic structure; Saint John's Catholic Cathedral, the Church of the Holy Name, and Cavendish Independent Church. are beautiful specimens of modern Gothic. The nonconformist churches outnumber the Episcopal churches two to one. Of numerous public monuments the most notable are a Prince Albert memorial in Albert Square, a bronze statue of Richard Cobden in Saint Ann's Square, one of Cromwell (unveiled in 1875) at the foot of Victoria Street, and one of Queen Victoria in Piccadilly. Manchester is en circled by populous suburban municipalities, con nected by rail and tramways.and on the west side of the Irwell is the borough of Salford, connected by numerous bridges, and considered as virtually a portion of the city. Both boroughs were en franchised by the Reform Bill of 1832. Manches ter returning two members and Salford one mem ber to Parliament. The redistribution of seats in 1885 gave Manchester six members and Salford three. Manchester was incorporated in 1338 and Salford in 1844. Manchester was made a bishop ric in 1847, and received the title of city in 185:3.
In 1885, in 1S90. and in 1894 the municipal boundaries were enlarged and the suburbs of Bradford, Rusholme, Blaekley, Kirkmanshultne, Morton, Newton Heath, Openshaw. and Gorton were included within the city limits. For pur poses of administration. Manchester is divided into 25 wards, and is governed by a city council of 78 councilors and 26 aldermen; the mayor is elected by the council. The council elects from its own members sixteen standing committees which supervise the various municipal departments. Manchester derives a revenue of over 84.000.000 from its city rates, which is more than sufficient for all its municipal needs. taken together with the profitable undertakings which the city owns. Until 1847 the water supply was controlled by a private company and was so unsatisfactory that the city took it over. Nearly A10.000.000 were spent in the next 28 years in enlarging the plant. In 1874 Parliament passed a bill authorizing the city to get a new supply from Thirlmere, a lake over 90 miles distant, which was subse quently- acquired by the city. This installation enables the city corporation to supply with water the neighboring towns as well. In addi tion it has hydraulic power works, distrile, wing power by means of special water pipes. lanehestcr possesses the oldest municipal gas rk; in the world, its ownership dating from 1507. The city supplies with gas several of the adjoining towns, kfter furnishing all the public buildings. streets, etc.. with gas at cost, and covering all expenses, interest and sinking fund payments. the city derives a net profit from the
works of over $300,000 a year.• Its electric light plant. opened in Is93., is also a great success. .Nlanchester owns its street railways, but does not operate them, leaving that. to a private com pany in consideration of a rental equal to more than 1() per cent. upon the eity's investment. The city exercises a strict supervision over all the details of the company's work and compels it to run special wo•kingmen's. cars at certain hours in the morning and evening, at the rate of one • cent per mile.
.laneliester has gone to enormous expense in constructing a canal. which enables the largest ocean steamers to enter the heart of the city. This eanal extends to the estuary of the Mersey at Eastham. The work of construction required an outlay of $75,000.000. of which the city con tributed $25.000,000 on the condition of absolute control of the enterprise by the municipality, which is secured by allowing the city a represen tation of eleven members out of the total of twenty-one composing the board of directors. The canal, to a great extent a canalized river, is 35.5 miles long, twice as wide as the Suez Canal, and has a depth of 26 feet. It was ready for traffic. on January 1, IS94, and formally opened by Queen Victoria May 21 following. Manchester has now six miles of quayage and dock aceommo dations of 100 acres. To make its provisions for all the eommereial and industrial faeilities com plete, the city takes considerable pains to keep up a good supply of effieient and highly skilled craftsmen, mechanics, foremen, etc., for its di verse industries. All the chief technical schools, formerly conducted by private individuals, have been consolidated 1111(1(.1- a municipal manage ment, which required a capital outlay of $1.000, 000. There is a hospital school for 100 boys, founded by Sir Humphrey Chethain, and incor porated by Charles II.: there is also a grammar school. having I 66 foundation scholarships, founded in 1549 by II ugh ()Wham. Bishop of Ex eter. There are nearly 100 elementary schools. of which more than 60 are under the Manchester Board of Education: the others are denomina tional. in IS46, John ()wens, a Ma•beste• mer chant, left 1100,000 to found a college for secular instruction, which is now the oldest and most important of the three colleges affiliated with Victoria University founded in 1SSO. in I373 a new building was erected at a cost of about 190,000, and the Boyal School of Medicine was incorporated with it. while the Natural 'History Society and the geological societies handed over their collections into its keeping: and again in 1SS4 other extensive buildings costing £90.000 were added. Manchester was among the first towns in England to adopt the Free Libraries Act, which allows an appropriation of a penny in the pound on the local assessment for parks, libraries, and museums: and here also was established the first free lending library in Eng land. Numerous branch lending libraries and a museum have since been established in :Man chester, and several branch lending libraries and an excellent museum in Salford; including the old college library, founded by Sir Humphrey Chetham, 1662, the people of Manchester and Salford have the free use of upward of 250,000 volumes.