Manchester Ship Canal.

Manawatu Herald, 31 March 1894, Page 3

Manchester Ship Canal.

The Manchester Weekly Times of January says : - Two cargoes of cotton have been landed in the local docks this week. The importation of cotton direct to Mans Chester from the cotton fields, Without breaking bulk, has been a ! -main object of. the. promoters ot the Ship Canal, and the arrival of the Finsbury and the Glen Isle this week is a practical proof that this object is attainable. The fact is one of extreme significance. It brings home tv us, with redoubled force, the importance of the Canal, and the vast changes which it is to effect. .We are at last in direct communication with one of the regions which supply us with the- raw material of our staple industry. There is every reason to rejoice. Other cotton ships are on their way to us, and we see no reason why the bulk of the cotton used in Lancashire and Cheshire and Yorkshire should not come by the Canal. Whether this prospect is realised or not manufacturers must be largely benefited, for even if Liverpool should succeed in retaining her hold on cotton imports, she can only do so by a radical revision of her dock and other charges backed up by a lowering of railway rates. Meanwhile Liverpool, as we show elsewhere, is seriously alarmed by the outlook and is bestirring herself to prevent the transference of business to the rival port.