Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 26 - AUS-CHI.pdf/633

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

CARCAR — CARDIFF Carcar, a town situated on high ground near the east coast of Cebu, Philippine Islands, in 10° T 1ST. It was founded in 1624. The surrounding country, though rugged, is quite fertile, and produces sugar in considerable quantity. The language is Cebu-Yisayan. Population, 30,000. Cardenas, a town and seaport in Cuba, on the north coast, in 81° 12' W., 76 miles E. of Havana. It was founded in 1828, is one of the few towns of Cuba built in the 19th century, and is a thriving place. It lies on a spacious bay sheltered by a long promontory. It is one of the principal sugar - exporting places of the island, and is connected by rail with Matanzas, Havana, Santa Clara, and Cienfuegos, and by the regular steamers with all the coast towns. Population, 21,940. Cardiff, a municipal, county (1888), and parliamentary borough and seaport of England, on the Taff, 1 mile above its outfall into the estuary of the Severn, 40| miles W. of Bristol, 45| miles E.S.E. of Swansea, 170 miles by rail W. of London, capital of the principality of Wales, and chief town of the county of Glamorgan; on the Great Western railway, and in direct and manifold railway communication with the coal and mineral districts of South Wales. The borough is divided into 10 wards under a mayor, 10 aldermen, and 30 councillors. From 2624 houses in 1851, Cardiff grew to 20,476 houses in 1891 and 28,009 houses in 1901. The waterworks, purchased by the corporation in 1879, have since been extended and a new supply, from the Taff Fawr Valley, provided at a cost, up to 1897, of over £1,139,452. The corporation have laid down lines for electric tramways and built power-stations, &c. About £500,000 will be laid out on these and the purchase and equipment of the existing lines. Various other public works are being actively pushed forward. The corporation already own the electric light undertaking, which they are extending. The Great Western railway in 1899 quadrupled its lines between Cardiff and Newport, and largely extended and improved its station at Cardiff, and in 1900 opened a new station at lloath. The network of railways and sidings around the Bute Docks comprises a length of about 120 miles. An iron swing bridge, Clarence Bridge, over the Taff, connecting Grangetown with the docks, was opened in 1890. New wharves and warehouses have been erected at all the principal towns and villages along the canal between Cardiff and MerthyrTydfiL The educational institutions include the University College (1883), a constituent college of the University of Wales, soon to be transferred to new buildings in Cathays Park; Schools of Science and Art (1891); the Baptist Theological College, stationary in Cardiff since 1893 ; a higher-grade school (1895), and many other board and national schools; 2 intermediate schools; a school of cookery (1890); a free library and museum (1882), extended and reopened (1896) at a cost of £20,000; a museum and art gallery, for which new buildings, at an estimated cost of £13,500, are to be erected in Catlnvys Park. Other recent public institutions are the market hall (1891); a new post-office (1898) costing £75,000; a new custom-house (1899) ; a new Government stampoffice (1900) ; baths (1896) ; a theatre; mining engineers’ institute (1890); the infirmary, erected (1883) at a cost of over £40,000; Roath Park (120 acres), opened 1894 ; Ely Park ; Canton Park ; besides fifteen open spaces acquired since 1890. Cathays Park, in the centre of the town, 60 acres in area, was purchased in 1900 for £160,000; and, in addition, £44,000 has already been spent in laying it out. In this park, moreover, new

583

municipal buildings and law courts are to be erected at a cost of £233,000. At the mouth of the three rivers—Rhymney, Taff, and Ely —within a dozen miles of the great coal and iron deposits of South Wales, comprising a coalfield estimated at 1000 square miles in area, with a storage capacity of over 30,000 million tons, 50 miles nearer London than Liverpool is, Cardiff commands unrivalled resources and an unsurpassed position as a port of trade. Accordingly, since by the construction of the canal and railways the mineral wealth of the hills has found free outlet to Cardiff, and thence, by her docks and capacious, safe, and readily accessible harbour, to all parts of the world, the export trade has grown in magnitude at a rate unexampled, till now Cardiff is the third largest exporting port of the United Kingdom and the heaviest coal-exporting port of the world, its coal shipments, 11,925,975 tons in 1898, largely exceeding those of the Tyne ports. An official estimate rates the increase of coal shipments at 7| per cent, per annum for the twenty-four years 1864-87, and sees no reason to doubt the continuance of the same rate of increase. The following is a list of the Bute docks and basins, with their respective dimensions :— Dock.

Acreage.

West Dock (1S39) ,, Basin (1839) ,, Lock . . . East Dock (1855) . „ Basin (1855) „ Lock . . . Roath Dock (188V) ,, Basin (18V4)

18

Dimensions.

„ Lock (188V) Glam. Canal Float (1V98) .... Glam. Canal Basin

4000 ft. by 200 ft. 300 ft. by 200 ft. 152 ft. by 36 ft. 1000 ft. by 300 ft. 44 -j 3300 ft. by 500 ft. 2i 380 ft. by 250 ft. 200 ft. by 49 ft. 33J 2400 ft. by 600 ft. 12 1000 ft. by 550 ft. 350 ft. by 80 ft. 600 ft. by 80 ft. 5500 ft. by 100 ft. 485 ft. by 130 ft.

Total Docks . New South Dock ,, ,, Lock Grand Total .

124J 42 2600 ft. by 650 ft. 2* V00 ft. by 160 ft. 169J 10 11

Quayage.

Depth on Sills.

8800 ft.

28 ft. 8£ in. springs 18 ft. 8J in. neaps. 31 ft. 8£ in. springs. 21 ft. 8§ in. neaps. 35 ft. 9 in. springs. 25 ft. 9 in. neaps.

9360 ft. V520 ft. 2V00 ft.

18 ft. 9 in. springs. 8 ft. 9 in. neaps. 39,380 ft. 42 ft. springs. V,460 ft. ( j32 ft. neaps. 11,000 ft.

46,840 ft.

Graving& Docks I length / number upfeet to 600 feet in and 60 entrance. Timber ponds, measuring 28 acres, have also been constructed for the accommodation of the fast-growing timber trade. The South Bute Dock, still in process of construction, is on the foreshore, with a seaward embankment extending out to a line nearly opposite the mouth of the Ely river. Connecting with the Roath Dock, it will have no basin, but a lock with sea gates, and practically serve as a low-water dock. Forty-two acres in area, it will accommodate the very largest steamers, cargo or passenger. On the completion of the new dock, the Bute Docks will have a floating area, exclusive of the Glamorgan canal, of 157 acres; with the canal, float, and basin, 169^ acres; and further, with the timber floats, 197| acres, an area which, apart from the other docks within the limits of the customs port, constitutes Cardiff the third port in the kingdom for extent of wet-dock accommodation. The entrance channel to the docks runs out about 11 miles to a point opposite Penarth Head, with a low-water pier. The depth of water at high-water springs is 43 feet, 8 inches; at low-water neaps, 15 feet. The new dock entrance lock and embankment will extend farther out in the channel, and supersede the present pier. In the entrance channel are two floating pontoons for coasting