Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

BRITAIN AT WORK. cold storage, and Liverpool is not behind in employing this means of preserving perishable imports and of regulating the market. Before concluding this survey of the Liver- pool Docks something must be said of the dock labourer who, for all his humble station, is so important a figure. The majority of the Liverpool dockers are Irish or of Irish ex- traction, though there is, too, a strong Welsh element, as might be expected in a city which has been called the “Capital of the Principality.” The total number of dockers is about 18,000, and, working at full pressure, the docks supply labour for some 15,000 of these, leaving a daily margin of 3,000 unemployed. But busy though Liverpool be, it is not often that the clocks keep the full quota of men working day after clay. Rather must one make a considerable allowance for slack time. Thus is the docker often forced to lead a very precarious life. He has to toil under sinsru- larly difficult, even demoralising conditions. Two days a week he may be sweating in a coal-bunker and for the rest of the week be a moneyless idler. It may be that a few hours yesterday, a few to-day, and an all-night spell to-morrow constitute his week’s work. His occupation is of necessity casual and fitful, and while it lasts it is physically severe. A slight improvement in the regularity of the docker’s employment has been brought about by the bigger companies dealing directly with the men, but the smaller lines and the coasting shipowners still have their loading and unloading clone through the master stevedores. In this sketch of the greatness and of the work of the Mersey port, no attention has been given to the picturesque aspect of the docks and river. I hat, perhaps, can be readily imagined. A place so closely in contact with the far-off and wonderful parts of the world must present many curious and interesting scenes. But most wonderful of all is the grand crowded river. From the Landing- Stage is witnessed a great panorama. There is a never-ending rush of ferry-boats that shoulder into the Stage, land their freight, and in a few minutes are away again laden deep with humanity. Tugs are darting hither and thither, flats with big clumsy brown sails crush along almost flush with the water, and in mid-river is always some big steamer anchored or moving cautiously to its berth ; beside these, the hurrying of the smaller craft resembles nothing so much as the skim- ming of flies on a quiet pool. Altogether, clocks and river must appeal to the dullest mind. Than the former, man’s ingenuity and enterprise have few grander monuments. At this day they are a lesson in the history of our mercantile marine, on which our national prosperity depends. They exhibit the steps by which our shipping has advanced ; and if the links with the past are being rapidly removed, there remain yet material for the imagination to picture what has been—the timid beginnings, and the slow cautious, successful evolution. John Macle ay. A LIVERPOOL CARGO BOAT.