The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-06 00:00:00

Eibiipoot

TUESD4Y MORNING, DEC. 6, 1853.

- -
TER PORT OF LIVERPOOL.

No. VI.

my,
FROE the description which we have given of the
world already completed, and now in course of con-
struction in Birkenhead, it will be seen that the means
of extending the accommodation for the increasing trade
of the Port. of Liverpool are of the most ample kind—
enough to gratify the most sanguine anticipations. Rapid
as the increase has been for several years past, it
maY Progress in an equal ratio for iiipny years to come,
and still there will be room enough, if Liverpool mer-
chants have the good sense to see the importance of
making both sides of the Mersey available for the pur-
poses of trade. But, beyond all this, the natural facilities
for shipping purposes, owing to the peculiar formation of
that side of the estuary, are almost illimitable, and the
whole capable of being converted at far less cost than has
been bestowed :upon the Liverpool Docks, the extremes
of which afford very inefficient accommodation.
A very valuable little work on " The Commerce of
Liverpool," by Mr. BIIIITIEWAITE POOLE, has just been
published by Mr. BAINES, of Castle-street, and we are
indebted to its pages for the following statistics of the
trade of the port. It appears that during the year 1852
the total amount of exports was 2,132,097 tons, of the
value of £53,000,000, and the total imports 2,370,082
tons, of the value of £57,000,000. Without giving the
lengthened tables in Mr. PooLE's book, we briefly classify
them as under : Tons.
Cotton. ... ...—... ... 365,000
Corn ... 520,000
Timber ... 365,000
Cattle.. ... ... 70,000
Oils and Tallow ... 69,480
Copper and other Metals... ... 39,953
Provisions, Butter, &c. ... 49,810
Foreign Fruit ... 28,090
"Tea, Coffee, Spices, &c. 20,261
Rice, Seeds, &c... ... 41,578
Bricks, Stone, &c. ... 144,700
Wine, Spirits, Beer, &c.... ... 54,410
Hemp, Flax, Hides, &c.... ... 60,061
Drugs, Dyes, &c. 73,679
• Sulphur, Saltpetre, &c. 112,672
Fish and Potatoes ... 50,000
Sundries ... 10,575

Total... ... ...2,370,082
If we only take into account the bulky goods, such as
timber, iron, stone, &c., amounting to 710,348 tons, for
how large a proportion ample room might be found on
the Cheshire side, and the docks on this side rendered
thereby better available for the more valuable commo-
dities. Even in the article of cotton, of which last year
nearly 600,000 bales were sent inland by railway, a great
proportion might with much greater facility have been
landed at Birkenhead, and thence forwarded by railway
direct from the ship's side. If we take the rate of in-
crease in trade during the last few years, we shall find
that the progress has been very rapid ; and bearing in
mind the numerous sources of improvement which are
visible in every direction, there is a fair right to presume
that it will continue at least for some time to come, and
therefore require those facilities which we have endeavoured
to point out, as being so much more accessible at the
western shore of the Mersey than can by any possibility
be obtained on this side.
Birkenhead, unfortunately, has been suffering a long
night of depression, owing to the over-zeal with which its
promoters a few years since aimed at too much, and were
consequently unable to carry out their large designs.
Great gaps exist in many of the principal streets; buildings
have been standing long in an unfinished state, and it
bears the appearance of a large city of which the builders
were suddenly arrested in their progress towards com-
pletion. It has, however, an advantage, which Liverpool
does not possess, of the streets being straight, broad, well
laid and drained ; and now that a hope of revival is
afforded by the re-commencement of the dock works, it is
resuming its former appearance of activity, the finished
houses being occupied, the unfinished ones being com-
pleted, and preparations made for building more, as it is
confidently expected that all will be required for its fast-
increasing population. Its magnificent square is now
fully inhabited, and all the blank spaces in the vicinity
would be rapidly filled up with houses, were it not for the
eitt-x—qe-ant prices which holders venture to ask for eligible
plots of land. 'anus worn
the much larger receipts at Woodside Ferry, which is in
the hands of the Commissioners, and this body, from their
rapidly accruing funds, will soon be able to place them-
selves in a solvent position with their numerous creditors,
who have long suffered from hope deferred.
As a place of residence, Birkenhead is fully equal
to the suburbs of Liverpool on the Lancashire side,
while the neighbourhood of the park and the dis-
tricts of Oxton and Claughton are far superior in pic-
turesqueness of situation and general elegance of resi-
dences. The park is indeed a feature of Birkenhead which
is unrivalled in the kingdom, and a memorial of the skill of
the celebrated Sir JOSEPIIPAXTON as a landscape gardener,
and the luxuriance of vegetation which it exhibits is an
encouragement to the promotion of horticulture in the
neighbourhood. The impetus which is required for the
completion of the main streets has already commenced; a
few years may realise all the anticipations which were
once indulged, and, in that case, Birkenhead may fairly
challenge rivalry with any town in the kingdom for all the
qualities which a town should possess as a place of business
and of comfortable residence.
By the act which was obtained for the paving, lighting,
draining, and general management of the township, mane
factories, or, at least, those which required tall chimneys,
were prohibited, but many others of a smaller kind are
actively carried on, and there is ample space for an im-
mense extent of business on a large scale. From the dock
warehouses, along the margin of the Great Float, there is
room for several large factories, with accommodations such
as are nowhere else to be met with. There the raw ma-
terial might be landed at the factory doors, and the manu-
factured goods placed at once on board the vessels which
are to convey, them to distant parts. A cotton factory
might compete with Manchester upon the mere saving in
carriage, while a soap factory would have peculiar advan-
tages, owing to the steamers between Birkenhead and the
West Coast of Africa, which would bring the palm oil
• direct from port to port. All these trades might be carried
on without the slightest injury or annoyance to the locali-
ties for dwelling-houses, and thus a two-fold advantage be
afforded to the Port of Liverpool.
One of the wants of Birkenhead is a commodious cattle
market, which might be located near one of the railway
stations. It will not do, however, simply to appoint
a space for the purpose, and trust to chance for buyers and
sellers. The market should be properly inclosed and
paved, furnished with water, pens for sheep and pigs, and
posts and rails for larger cattle. There should also be
accommodation in the neighbourhood for the housing of
live stock, and days should be appointed either once or
twice a month for holding the market. The commissioners
should also give annually two silver cups to encourage the
trade, one to the purchaser of the greatest amount of stock
during the year, and the other to the owner of the best
beast exhibited for sale on the market day preceding
• Christmas.
Another work to be performed is the inclosure and pave-
ment of the space in Hamilton-street adjoining the mar-
ket, and which would be well adapted for the sale of hay
and straw. It should, however, be better lighted than it
is at present; and, when the new Town-hall is 'erected
in Hamilton-square, the removal of the present structure
will give abundant room for a large amount of business
In agricultural produce. Almost all the shops in the
vicinity are now occupied, but the tradesmen would find
their business considerably improved if their prices were
not quite so much in advance of those which prevail in
Liverpool. The passage across the Mersey is so easily
Performed, that many of the inhabitants of Birkenhead
Prefer shopping on this side instead of paying about ten
Per cent. extra for dealing with tradesmen nearer home.
From Woodside Ferry along the quays towards the
docks an active business is carried on by boat-builders,
mast and block-makers, ship-chandlers, plumbers, and other
trades connected with the supply of shipping, and there is
available space for a much larger extent of business with-
out in any way interfering with the dwelling-houses.
Liverpool has already occupied every portion of its large
area, and has been obliged to stretch out north, south, and
east, to a considerable distance. Birkenhead, however,
'Presents facilities of which the full advantage has not yet
been taken, although they are in reality far easier of
aece%, and far more desirable than most of the Lancashire
4111mtbe. h
tune Presents a means of expansion which will in
rival t u- Liverpool, with its magnificent estuary, to
not easy
(Teat metropolis, with its narrow river Thames,
bY the aittfieesB3 and only approached from the Atlantic
:treat obatar navigation of the English Channel. The
e"`fnie th ,e to extension has been the futile attempt to
but if Inlsiness of the port to one side of the Mersey, foundation ithsna jealousy of rivalry which has no, unite in (1'0;1 "ercome, and Lancashir'e and Cheshire
trade, it web:Vine the resources of an ever-increasing
the extending '5" Pleasing duty year by year to chronicle
t ce of
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