Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/874

* MANCHESTER. 780 ■water the npighboiiiig towns as well. In aildi- tioii it lias liydraiilic i)owfr works, distribi uting power by moans of s|)ecial water pipes. Manchester possesses the oldest municipal gas works in the world, its ownershii) dating from 1807. The city supplies with gas several of the adjoining towns. After furnishing all the public MANCHESTER. buildings, streets, etc., with at cost, and covering all expenses, interest and siidiing fund payments, the city derives a net profit from the works of over $3(io,000 a year.- Its electric light plant, opened in 18!).3. is" also a great success. JIanchester owns its street railways, but does not operate them, leaving thai to a private com- pany in consideration of a rental equal to more than 10 per cent, npcm the city's investment. The city exercises a strict su]K'rvision over all the details of the company's work and compels it to run special workingmen's. cars at certain hours in the morning and evening, at the rate of one cent per mile. Manchester has gone to enormous expense in constructing a canal, which enables the largest ocean steamers to enter the heart of the city. This canal extends to the estuary of the Mersey at Eastham. The work of construction required an outlay of .$7.j.000,(>n0, of which the city con- tributed ".$2.1.000.000 on the condition of ab'sohite control of the enterprise liy the municipality, which is secured liy allowing the city ,a rei)resen- tation of eleven memliers out of the total of twenty-one composing the board of directors. The canal, to a great extent a canalized river, is 3.5.5 miles long, twice as wide as the Suez Canal, and has a depth of 20 feet. It was read}' for traffic on .January 1, 1804, and formally opened by Queen Victoria May 21 following. Manchester has now six miles of quayage and dock accommo- dations of 100 acres. To make its provisions for all the conniiercial and industrial facilities com- plete, the city takes considerable pains to keep up a good supply of efficient and highly skilled craftsmen, mechanics, foremen, etc., for its di- verse industries. All the chief technical schools, formerly conducted by i)rivate individuals, have been consolidated under a municipal manage- ment, which recpiired a capital uutlav of .$1,000,- 000. There is a hospital school for 100 boys, foiuided by Sir Humphrey Chetham, and incor- porated by Charles II.: there is also a grammar school, having 100 foinidation scholarships, founded in 1.540 by Hugh Oldham. Bisbo]) of Ex- eter. There are nearly 100 elementary schools, of which more than 00 are imder the ilanchester Board of Education: the others are denomina- tional. In 1840, .John Owens, a Manchester mer- chant, left £100,000 to found a college for secular instruction, which is now the oldest and most important of the three colleges affiliated with Victoria fniversitv, founded in 1880. In 1873 a new building was erected at a cost of al>out fnO.OOO, and the Royal School of Jledicine was incorporated with it. while the Natural History Socictv and the geological societies handed over their collections into its keeping: and again in 1884 other extensive buildings costing £90.000 were added. Alanchester was among the first towns in England to adopt the Free Libraries Act. which allows an ajipropriation 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. Xumerous branch lending libraries and a museum have sincp l)een established in Jfan- ehester, and several branch lending libraries and au excellent museum in Salford; including the old college library, founded by Sir Humphrey Chetham, 1002, the people of Manchester and Salford have the free use of upward of 250,000 volumes. The parks of Jfanchcstcr are thirty-nine in niUMbcr, covering an area of 1103 acres. The chief are Heaton Park, 002 acres; Boggart Hole Clough, 70 acres: I'cel I'ark, and hitworth Park. The city maintains an art gallery, and subsidizes a local college of music. Like Glas- gow, it has a large precipitation and tiltration plant for the utilization of its .sewage (for de- scription of plant, .see Glasgow), and for the prevention of pollution of its river. The fertiliz- ers thus obtained liring a good price. The gar- bage is burned up in the furnaces, and tlic non- comliustible part is used to till in outlying low- ground belonging to the city, which is thus con- verting it into good building land, which sells at an advanced price. Between the 3'cars 1880 and 181(0 Manchester opened eight large bathing establishments at a cost of nearly .$100,000 each. The corporation owns fifteen markets, in addi- tion to slaughter houses, yielding a combined income of over .$300,000 per year. After de- ducting all expenses, the cit}' still retains over $80,000 as clear profit. Manchester has gone into municipal house building for working people. It lets several hundred dwellings in tenements, as well as private cottages to workmen's fami- lies, the rents being $2..50 per room per month, and about $5 per month for a four-room cot- tage. The death-rate in Manchester is quite high, it being, according to the latest available statistics, 25.03 ]ier 1000 of i)o]nilation, or much higher than in London or Glasgow. As an in- dustrial centre, it is one of the oldest, as well as one of the most important, in England. The chief industry is cotton spinning, weaving, and manufacturing, including calico printing, bleaching, and dyeing: there are also considerable manufactures of silk and mixed goods, of small wares, of machinerv and tools, of paper and chemicals. Manchester is a depot for all kinds of textile fabrics, and has a very large export trade. It is the .seat of an American consul. The population of Manchester increased rapid- ly during the nineteenth centurv. Starting with a population of 75.000 in 1801, i't grew to 120,000 in 1821, .303,000 in 1851, 505.400 in 1801, and 544.000 in 1001. In the adjoining borough of Salford the population in 1001 was 220,050, mak- ing a total for the two places of over 704,000. Within a radius of twenty miles from the Man- chester town hall there is a cluster of towns with a total population of about 3,000.000, forming virtually one industrial community. Roman remains have been found in great num- bers at Manchester, but the history of the place can be traced only to Anglo-Saxon times, the name, Mamcester or !Mamcceaster, appearing in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 923. The town sufTered much from the Danes, but prospered nevertheless. In the thirteenth century fulling mills were at work there. In 1301 Manchester became a free borough with a considerable de- gree of self-government. It thrived especially after the fourteenth century, and about 1050 was a busy town, with nearly GOOO inhabitants. During the Civil War it was held successfully