GOODS [are] delivered in Manchester the same day they are received in Liverpool. By canal they were never delivered before the third day. By railway, goods, such as wines and spirits, are not subject to the pilferage which existed on the canals. The saving to manufacturers in the neighbourhood of Manchester, in the carriage of cotton alone, has been £20,000 per annum. Some houses of business save £500 a-year in carriage. Persons now go from Manchester to Liverpool and back in the same day with great ease. Formerly they were generally obliged to be absent the greater part of two days.

The railway is assessed to the parochial rates in all the parishes through which it passes; though only thirty-one miles, it pays between £3,000 and £4,000 per annum in parochial rates. Coal-pits have been sunk, and manufactories established on the line, giving great employment to the poor, thus reducing the number of claimants for parochial relief. The railway pays one-fifth of the poor-rates in the parishes through which it passes.