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 Sheng-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.