Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/485

Rh MANCHESTER 401 of the Erectlieura of Athens, at a cost of .40,000 ; it is now occupied by the town library. The business of the city is conducted in the new town-hall, probably beyond dispute the most important municipal building in the kingdom, if not in Europe. It was completed in 1877, from designs by &quot;Waterhouse, who selected as the style of architecture a form of Gothic, but treated it very freely as purposes of utility required. The edifice covers 8000 square yards, and includes more than two hundred and fifty rooms. The triangular or flat-iron form of the site was a great difficulty, but the architect has skilfully sur mounted it. The building consists of continuous lines of corridors surrounding a central courtyard and connected by bridges. The principal tower is 260 feet high, .and affords a view which extends over a large part of South Lancashire and Cheshire, and is bounded only by the hills of Derbyshire. It contains a remarkable peal of bells by Taylor of Loughborough, forming an almost perfect chromatic scale of twenty-one bells ; each bell has on it a line from section 105 of Tennyson s In Memoriam. The great hall is 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, and contains a magnificent organ built by Cavaille-Coll of Paris. The panels of this room are being filled with mural paintings illustrating the various incidents connected with the history and progress of the city. The total cost of the building has been 1,053,264, inclusive of 201,925 for interest. The branch Bank of England is a Doric building designed by Cockerell. The Salford town-hall is also Doric ; and there are besides separate town-halls for the townships of Ardwick, Chorlton, Hulme, Cheetham, Broughton, and Pendleton. The Free Trade hall is a fine structure in the Lombardo- Venetian style, and its great hall will accommo date five thousand people. It is used for public meetings, concerts, &c., and was built by Walters. The young men s Christian association hall was originally used as a natural history museum. The Royal Institution, built by Sir Charles Barry, is a proprietary institution intended for the encourage ment chiefly of the fine arts. In the entrance hall are casts of the Elgin Marbles, given by George IV., and a statue of Dalton by Chantrey. There is a small permanent gallery, and periodical exhibitions of pictures are held and courses of lectures delivered. Arrangements have now (1882) been concluded by which the institution will become the pro perty of the town and be managed by a joint committee of members of the town council and others interested in art and literature. The Athenaeum, also designed by Barry, was founded by Richard Cobden and others associated with him, for &quot;the advancement and diffusion of know ledge.&quot; The institution has, perhaps, not developed exactly on the lines contemplated by its promoters, but it has become one of the most useful in the town. All the advantages enjoyed by members of high-class social clubs, with the addition of facilities for educational classes and the use of an excellent news-room and a well-selected library of 18,000 volumes, are offered in return for a payment which does not amount to a penny a day. The mechanics institution contains a library of 17,000 volumes, and has connected with it excellent day and evening schools, and classes for technical instruction. The Portico is a good specimen of the older proprietary libraries and news rooms. It dates from 1806, and has a library of 20,000 volumes. The Memorial Hall was built to commemorate the memory of the Nonconformist ejected ministers of 1662. The Unitarian home missionary board has here its library and rooms for the education of students; and the building is used for a variety of meetings, scientific, educational, musical, and religious. The inconvenience arising from inadequate provision for postal service is, after many years of hesitation, to be remedied by the erection, now (1882) in progress, of a commodious post-office. Means of Communication. The opening of the Man chester and Liverpool Railway in 1830 marked an im portant epoch in the history of modern industry, and since that time Manchester has gradually been connected by rail with every part of the kingdom. The enormous traffic by this means has not, however, entirely superseded the use of the canals, which formerly played so important a part in the cotton industry. The construction of the Bridgewater Canal in 1761 was an event second in importance only to that of the introduction of the railway system. There are three large railway stations, Victoria, London Road, and the Central, and several minor ones. The excellence of the omnibus system of the city was perhaps one principal cause for the somewhat tardy adoption of tramways ; but these have now rapidly developed, and ensure facilities for transit between the different parts of the city and also for com munication with the neighbouring towns and villages. The establishment of a ship canal to connect Manchester with the sea has been frequently suggested at intervals for the last sixty years, and a scheme of tidal navigation elaborated by Mr Hamilton Fulton is now (1882) being actively dis cussed. Water Supply. This is under the control of the cor poration, which supplies not only the citizens but the sur rounding populations. The gathering-ground is a series of reservoirs in the valley of Longdendale, chiefly along the course of the river Etherow. Woodhead, the chief reservoir, 20 miles from Manchester, is 777 feet above sea-level, is 72 feet deep, covers an area of 155 acres, and has a capacity of 1,235,000,000 gallons. The present system of water works, including the portions now being constructed at Audenshaw and Denton, have an area of reservoirs of 854^ acres, and a capacity of holding 5,914,000,000 gallons. The average daily supply of water was in 1855 8,078,152 gallons; in 1881 it was 18,929,704 gallons. In 1877 the water committee announced that in view of the increased demand it would be necessary to obtain additional or fresh sources of supply. The proposal to utilize Thirlmere in Cumberland for this purpose was vehemently opposed, but the scheme was eventually sanctioned by parliament, and the works have been begun, but have not as yet made rapid progress. Thirlmere is 533 feet above the sea, and it is proposed to raise it by an embankment to 584 feet above the sea. From this height it is estimated that a maximum quantity of 50,000,000 gallons might be with drawn daily. Lif/hting. The corporation not only manufactures gas for the lighting of the city, but sells it to out-districts. The area of distribution amounts to 42 square miles, and the street mains for the gas supply are 597 miles long. The entire assets of the gas-works were valued in September 1881 at 1,386,942. The average quantity of gas transmitted daily was 2,425,630,000 cubic feet. The revenue from the sale of bye-products is about 90,000. Salford, which is supplied with water by Manchester, has its own gas-works, the property of the ratepayers, and managed by a committee of the town council. Administration of Jiistice. The city has a stipendiary magistrate who, in conjunction with lay magistrates, tries cases of summary jurisdiction in the police courts ; the-e are held in a building erected for the purpose, and having some architectural pretensions. There are also quarter sessions, presided over by a recorder. Separate sessions are held for the Salford hundred. Salford has also a police court with a stipendiary magistrate. Certain sittings of the Court of Chancery for the duchy of Lancaster are held in Manchester. In addition to the county court, there is an ancient civil court known as the Salford Hundred Court of Record. Assizes have been held since 1866.