Page images
PDF
EPUB

June, 1829, to the 24th June, 1830, the total receipt of duties was as follows:

[blocks in formation]

Ditto on Goods, viz.

Foreign Inwards £51,957 3 5
Coastwise Inwards 16,993 0 6
Foreign Outwards 14,055 4 0

...£68,352 7 5

-83,007 7 11

£151,359 15 4

Perhaps a still more forcible idea of the extensive commerce which is carried on here, may be formed from the subjoined account of the duties received at the custom-house in this town during six years, with intervals between each, viz.—

[blocks in formation]

1830, ending 1831... 3,563,583 15 5
1832, ending 1833... 3,924,983 10 10

The excise duty on spirits was transferred to the customs on the 5th of April, 1825.. If we combine the duties of the custom-house with the dock and town's dues, we shall have the enor

mous sum of more than four millions, paid annually by the shipping and produce entered inwards and outwards at this port. Then what must be the actual amount of merchandize imported and exported here in the space of one year? Betwixt this place and Manchester it was estimated three years ago, that one thousand three hundred tons of goods were conveyed per day; and that from Ireland almost solely, there were imported of live stock, during a period of two years and a half, ending Dec. 1829, 115,654 large cattle, 26,507 calves, 350,353 sheep, and 344,946 pigs. If we compare the amount of tonnage in the year 1812 with that of 1830, we find the increase in eighteen years to be rather more than threefold.

The income of the corporation estate for the year ending 18th October 1830, amounted to £123,368 14s. 64d., and if the receipts of the dock trustees for the same year be taken conjointly, they will form an annual revenue of nearly £275,000, which is chiefly appropriated to the enlargement, decoration and improvement of the town.

If in addition to these large resources, which are likely to become still greater, we contemplate the many advantages that this town possesses with respect to the internal trade of the kingdom,from being situate in a district which is the very seat of manufactures, and likewise enjoying the

superior facilities for transit to every part of the country afforded by the railways and canals, with her daily increasing imports and exports from and to most parts of the globe,-we may fairly conjecture that so long as Britain shall retain her situation in the catalogue of nations, Liverpool will keep pace in the general career of prosperity.

CHAPTER II.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN.

PUBLIC EDIFICES.

NEXT to literary and scientific works, the most prominent and lasting evidences of the good taste, ingenuity, and industry of a people, are its architectural structures, in which are at once

combined utility and ornament. Hence we perceive that the nations of antiquity the most celebrated in the pages of history for their attainments in literature and civility are those who have left behind them the most durable and beautiful specimens of art. less famed for the admirable taste and skill displayed by their architects and sculptors, in the various remains of temples, theatres, aqueducts, &c. with which those classic soils abound, than

Greece and Rome are hardly

for the splendid monuments of human genius which have emanated from their poets, orators, and historians

THE TOWN HALL.

Among the public edifices that claim the particular attention of the visiter, the Town Hall deservedly stands first, which for external grandeur and interior commodiousness and splendour, is surpassed by few buildings in the kingdom. It is situate near the centre of the town, having the New Exchange Buildings on the north, and Castle-street on the south. The first stone was laid in 1748, and the whole was completed in 1754, under the direction and according to the design of Messrs. Wood and Son, of Bath. In 1795 the interior was consumed by fire, but has since been rebuilt under the direction of the late John Foster, Esq., at that time chief architect to the corporation. The expenses, including the furniture and internal decorations, were £110,000. The old cupola being thought too heavy, and not harmonizing with the rest of the structure, was removed, and the present one erected. The east and west fronts remain unchanged; but the part on the north side, which comprises the principal ball-room, has been added; and on the south side, a few years since, was built the portico and pediment, an addition that has contributed much to improve the general appearance of this

[ocr errors]
« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »