The canal being virtually one long dock, wharves at various points have been erected to enable chemical or manufacturing works to be carried on, widenings being provided where necessary. At Ellesmere Port coal tips and sheds have been erected, and the canal is in direct communication with the docks there as well as at Weston Point and Runcorn, where a large trade is carried on with the Staffordshire Potteries and the Cheshire salt districts. At Partington branches from the railways connect the canal with the Yorkshire and Lancashire coal-fields, and the canal is widened out 65 ft. on each side for six hydraulic coal tips. At Mode Wheel there are extensive abattoirs and lairages, erected by the Manchester Corporation; also large petroleum oil tanks, graving dock and pontoons, cold-air meat stores and other accommodation for traffic. At Manchester the area of the docks is 104 acres, with 152 acres of quay space, having over 5 m. of frontage to the docks, which are provided with a number of three-storey transit sheds, thirteen seven-storey and seven four-storey warehouses, and a large grain silo. The London & North Western and Lancashire & Yorkshire railway companies and the Cheshire Lines Committee have made branch lines to the docks, the railways and sidings at which are over 30 miles in length. Much traffic is also carted, or dealt with by inland canals in direct communication with the docks. The substitution of a wide and deep canal, nearly straight, for comparatively shallow and narrow winding rivers, and the use of large sluices in place of fixed weirs to carry off the river water, have been of great advantage to the district in greatly reducing the height of floods.
The total amount of excavation in the canal, docks and subsidiary work amounted to over 54 million cub. yds., nearly one-fourth of which was sandstone rock; the excavated material was used in forming the railway deviation embankments, filling up the old beds of the rivers and raising low lands near the canal. As many men were employed on the works as could be obtained, but the number never exceeded 17,000, and the greater part of the excavation was done by about eighty steam navvies and land dredgers. For the conveyance of excavation and materials, 228 miles of temporary railway lines were laid, and 173 locomotives, 6300 wagons and trucks, and 316 fixed and portable steam-engines and cranes were employed, the total cost of the plant being nearly £1,000,000. The expenditure on the works, including plant and equipment, to the 1st of January 1900, was £10,327,666. The purchase of the Mersey and Irwell and Bridgewater navigations (£1,786,651), land and compensation (£1,223,809), interest on capital during constructions (£1,170,733), and parliamentary, superintendence and general expenses brought up the total amount to £15,248,437.
The traffic on the canal gradually increased from 925,659 tons in 1894 to 2,778,108 tons in 1899 and 5,210,759 tons in 1907. After its opening considerable reductions were made in the railway rates of carriage and the charges at the Liverpool docks in order to meet the lower cost of conveyance by shipping passing up it. The result has been of great advantage to the trade of Lancashire and the surrounding districts, and the saving in the cost of carriage, estimated at £700,000 a year, assists manufacturers to meet the competition of their foreign opponents who have the advantage of low rates of carriage on the improved waterways of America, Germany, France and Belgium. Before the construction of the canal, large manufacturers had left Manchester to establish their works at ports like Glasgow, where they could save the cost of inland carriage. Since its opening, new industries have been started at Manchester and along its banks, warehouses and mills that were formerly empty are now occupied, while nearly 10,000 new houses have been built for the accommodation of the workpeople required to meet the enlarged trade of the city.
For further details see Sir Bosdin Leech, History of the Manchester Ship Canal (Manchester, 1907).
(E. L. W.)
MANCHURIA, the name by which the territory in the east of Asia occupied by the Manchus is known in Europe. By the Chinese it is called the country of the Manchus, an epithet meaning “pure,” chosen by the founder of the dynasty which now rules over Manchuria and China as an appropriate designation for his family. Manchuria lies in a north-westerly and south-easterly direction between 39° and 53° N. and between 116° and 134° E., and is wedged in between China and Mongolia on the west and north-west, and Korea and the Russian territory on the Amur on the east and north. More definitely, it is bounded N. by the Amur, E. by the Usuri, S. by the Gulf of Liao-tung, the Yellow Sea and Korea, and W. by Chih-li and Mongolia. The territory thus defined is about 800 m. in length and 500 m. in width, and contains about 390,000 sq. m. It is divided into three provinces, viz. Hei-lung-kiang or Northern Manchuria, Kirin or Central Manchuria, and Shēng-king or Southern Manchuria. Physically the country is divided into two regions, the one a series of mountain ranges occupying the northern and eastern portions of the kingdom, and the other a plain which stretches southwards from Mukden, the capital, to the Gulf of Liao-tung.
A system of parallel ranges of mountains, culminating in the Chinese Ch’ang pai Shan, “the long white mountains,” on the Korean frontier, runs in a north-easterly direction from the shores of the Gulf of Liao-tung. In its course through Eastern Manchuria it forms the watershed of the Sungari, Usuri and other rivers, and in the south that of the Ya-lu and many smaller streams. It also forms the eastern boundary of the great plain of Liao-tung. The mountains of this system reach their greatest height on the south-east of Kirin, where their snow-capped peaks rise to the elevation of 8000 ft. The scenery among them is justly celebrated, more especially in the neighbourhood of Haich‘ēng, Siu-yen and the Korean Gate.
The three principal rivers of Manchuria are the Sungari, Mutan-kiang and Usuri already mentioned. Of these the Sungari, which is the largest, rises on the northern slopes of the Ch’ang pai Shan range, and runs in a north-westerly direction to its junction with the Nonni, from which point it turns north-east until it empties itself into the Amur. It is navigable by native junks above Kirin, which city may also be reached by steamer. In its long course it varies greatly both in depth and width, in some parts being only a few feet deep and spreading out to a width of more than a mile, while in other and mountainous portions of its course its channel is narrowed to 300 or 400 ft., and its depth is increased in inverse ratio. The Usuri rises in about 44° N. and 131° E., and after running a north-easterly course for nearly 500 m. it also joins the Amur. The Mutan-kiang takes its rise, like the Sungari, on the northern slopes of the Ch’ang pai Shan range, and not far from the sources of that river. It takes a north-easterly course as far as the city of Ninguta, at which point it turns northward, and so continues until it joins the Sungari at San-sing. It is navigable by junks between that city and Ninguta, though the torrents in its course make the voyage backwards and forwards one of considerable difficulty. Next in importance to these rivers are the Liao and Ya-lu, the former of which rises in Mongolia, and after running in an easterly direction for about 400 m. enters Manchuria in about 43° N., and turning southward empties itself into the Gulf of Liao-tung. The Ya-lu rises in Korea, and is the frontier river of that country.