Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

35i THE S.S. CAMPANIA AT LIVERPOOL. Photo: Cassell & Co., Ltd. THE DOCKS OF LIVERPOOL. I I VERPOOL is an imposing rather than a beautiful city. A place is great, it may be said, in proportion as it appeals to the imagination. Regarded thus, Liverpool stands high in the ranks of the world’s cities. It has many splendid buildings and noble institutions. That cluster of buildings of which St. George’s Hall is the magnificent centre is not easily matched for grandeur in any town in England. But Liverpool is a city irregularly laid out, and the hasty visitor is mostly struck by the haphazard arrange- ment of the streets and the lines of dreary warehouses here and there. Comeliness is not wholly sacrificed to the utilitarian, but it is certainly less evident. In many cases the fine buildings are lost in narrow streets or among a huddle of old unlovely structures. In this respect, of course, Liverpool is by no means peculiar, but it has sharper con- trasts between the grandiose and the squalid than are generally to be noted. But outward appearance is no clue to the greatness of the city. Liverpool is the centre of a stupendous, worldwide trade ; it lives, moves, and has its being by reason of its traffic with the distant continents of the globe. However parochial may seem its day-to-day existence, its interests are so extensive and cosmopolitan that the outlook of its citizens must, of necessity almost, be spacious and inspiring. Its streets are a reflection of the universal ramifications of Liverpool’s mighty trade; the foreigner is very markedly to the fore among the busy throng. The commerce of the city is sensitive to a degree to the fluctuations of the world’s markets, but particularly so are those homes of thrills and excitements the Cotton and Corn Exchanges. Yet, for all its gigantic and far-reaching trade, Liverpool is comparatively young. The era of its prosperity dates back not much further than a hundred and fifty years. In 1571 a writer described' it as “a decayed town,” whatever that may mean ; and a print of a hundred years later exhibits an un- imposing little village. About the end of the seventeenth century the income from the Corporation estates reached the princely sum of thirteen pounds. The eighteenth century saw the town set fairly on its legs. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the population was 80,000; at the end it was over 640,000. But the real history of Liverpool is the history of the docks. The first dock was begun in 1709. This old or wet dock, which contained an area of 3 acres 1,890 yards, and which was completed in 1715, has long ago disappeared, the present Custom House being erected on its site. Following the Old Dock, others were built, and Liverpool rose gradually in the ranks of British seaports. The completion of the Duke of Bridgewater’s famous canal was a very material help to