The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-06 00:00:00

NAVAL and MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The following la the form which will be used in calling
out the Reserve :

"First Class Army Reserve.—Her Majesty having been
graciously pleased to direct by Proclamation that the First
Class Army Reserve Force be called Out for permanent
service, all men belonging to the said Reserve Force of the
district are required to report themselves at the head-
quarters of the pension district at on or before
the -- for the purpose of rejoining the Army."

In an appendix to the instructions the places are named
to which the Reserve men in the several pension districts,
other than those previously provided for, are to be sent,
and also the officers to whom they must report themselves.
The stations appointed are the military depas most con-
venient to the residences of the men.

On Friday one of the principal firms of merchants and
Admiralty contractors in Wolverhampton received an inquiry
from the War Office as to a very large number of picks and
shovels required for war purposes, with an intimation that
they were urgently required; and the time they could be
supplied in was specially asked for.

The recruiting officers are experiencing an increase of
business, and the recruits who are coming in are not only
numerous, but of a superior class. The recruits still manifest
a preference for a long spell in the Army, but short service
is now the invariable rule—eight years in the ranks and four
In the Reserve for Artillery, Engineers, and Cavalry; six
years in the ranks and six in the Reserves for Infantry. Very
many good and useful men are permitted to make a new
engagement extending their service to a full period of 21
years.

The large new steamer, renamed the Tyne, and built by
Messrs. C. Mitchell and Co., of Low Walker, for Liverpool,
resold by the Liverpool house to the Government for a
troopship, is being got ready for sea. She will be finished at
Chatham. Messrs. Palmer and Co. are completing two
torpedo boats, the last of a fleet, for the Government. An
active steamer, one of the swiftest in the mercantile navy,
has been refitted by the same firm, and will it is said, be
used as a Government despatch boat. Work is very active
at Elswick.

The sum paid to the Brazilian Government for the ironclad
turret ship Independencia is £600,000. It has been decided
by the Admiralty to send the Independeucia (now the
Neptune) to Portsmouth, to have the necessary alterations
made in her fittings and to be completed for sea She will
also be provided with the toipedo gear, which she now
lacks.

On board the target ship Nettle, at Portsmouth, a further
trial was made last week of a steel and iron armour plate,
manufactured by Messrs. John Brown and Co., of Sheffield,
according to Mr. Ellis's patent. The conditions of firing
were the same as before. In this case the plate was made of
sin. of steel and 3in. of iron, the difference between it and
the composite plates previously tested consisting in the
increased thickness of the steel. This variation, however,
was not an improvement, as the plate succumbed to the
second shot.

The Army and Navy Gazette believes that ere long the
flat will go forth condemning all grey or white horses for
military purposes, and that the 2nd Royal North British
Dragoons are to be "Greys" only in name, and that, though
it is now one of the cavalry regiments first for service, it
would not be sent out with the Ist Army Corps.
Some time since the Admiralty announced that they re-
quired a number of shipwrights to proceed to Bermuda
dockyard, where they are to be employed in the repairs to
the floating dock, and invited workmen to volunteer for the
service. Up to the present time, however, not one offer to
volunteer has been received, the terms offered by the
Admiralty not being considered sufficiently attractive to
tempt men to throw up their service at home to proceed to
Bermuda.

The long-looked for order from the Admiralty for the
increase of the salaries of the dockyard ofiluials has at
length been received at Chatham, the whole of the officials,
with the exception of the leading men, having been granted
an augmentation of their salaries.
The Iron Duke is expected to arrive each day from Birken-
head accompanied by the Valorous. The whole of her spars,
running gear, and stores have been prepared, and the War
Department have anticipated the demand by preparing her
armanents and storing the same at the G-un Wharf in reitli-
Deis for transport in Keyham.

A Montreal telegram states that the Artillery in the gar-
rison of that town have been ordered to keep themselves in
readiness to relieve the Royal Artillery at Halifax, the latter
having been recalle...: to Europe. It further announces that
the Home Government have requested the Government of the
Dominion to put the Pacific coast of British Columbia in a
state of defence against invasion.

There has been a considerable feeling of soreness for some
time past among our small-bore rifle shots in the Volunteer
Force, in consequence of Government having declined to
sell them Martini-Henry ammunition for practice • but this
feeling will, I think, be somewhat assuaged when it is known
that Lord Salisbury the other day informed a friend of mine
—an ardent Volunteer—that the decision was owing to
every round manufactured being required at pre3ent for
India and our Mediterranean garrisons.—Whitehall Review.
The labours of the committee appointed to purchase
horses for the transport service terminated on the 26th ult.
Besides securing 2,200 sound and useful animals for imme-
diate requirements, the committee has made arrangements
which will enable them in an emerg. ncy to fall back upon a
reserve of some thousands more, at present in possession of
private owners throughout the country, but ready to be ac-
quired by the Government on short notice, at a price already
agreed upon.
The men of the Army and Militia Reserves about to be
mobilised are to be told off for duty with the regiments in-
cluded in the Second Army Corps, and would embark on
service with this corps if necessary. Their wives and
families will be supported by a Government grant during
such time as the men are absent from their homes on mili-
tary employment, the grant to be paid at a daily rate, com-
mencing from the date on which the men report themselves
for duty. - - .

Large quantities of shot and shell for the 25.t0n Ann•
strong guns continue to be taken from the armour-plated
ship BeCeisle, whence they are taken to the Gun Wharf and
shipped on board the War Department lighters for convey-
ance to the Royal Arsenal. The Admiralty have decided
upon replacing the Armstrong guns by guns of the Woolwich
pattern. The four 25-ton Armstrong guns which were on
the Belleisle when she was purchased from the Turkish Go-
vernment are now at Woolwich, but it is not known what
the authorities intend to do with them.

A number of additional men continue to be entered at
Chatham Dockyard to be emplcyed upon the varioas vessels
completing for sea, while some hundreds are daily employed
in working extra hours.
The let battalion Scots Fusilier Guards, which has only
recently been quartered at Windsor in order to furnish the
Castle Guard, has received orders to hold itself in readiness
to return to the metropolis. The battalion, with the 2nd
battaliou Grenadier a and Ist battalion Coldstream Guards
arc, on rho roll for eorvico with the Firet Army Corps now 11l
course of mobilisation, hence its sudden recall to London.
The Army Reserve in the Cardiff District are expected to
be called up in a few days at the Barracks. Clothing has
arrived for 130 men.

The question of transport for the regiments stationed in
the Mediterranean is engaging the attention of the War
Office, as these regiments are maintained at a war establish-
ment and would require to be utilised with a field army.
The general officer commanding the troops at Malta has re-
ported, in answer to inquiries made by the War Office, that
every available space on the island has been utilised for the
accommodation of troops and stores, and that the fortress
is now in a perfect state of defence.
"The voted six millions were apportioned thus-wise :
three to the army, two to the fleet, one for contingencies.
Of the amount for the army, £400,000 has already been
spent for clothes, &c."- -The World.
- - • -

It is many years since there was so much work on hand
at the Gun-wharf, Chatham, as there is at the present
time, owing to the large number of vessels now fitting for
sea at Chatham dockyard. There are no less than eight
vessels preparing for commission, and the whole of them
are so far advanced that all of them could be sent to sea in
a very short time. The more advanced of the vessels are
the Monarch, 7, armour-plated turret-ship; the Penelope,
armour-plated ship; and the iron frigate Euryalus. It is
in connexion with these vessels more particularly that the
Gun-wharf officials are pushing forward the gun fittings
The other vessels in hand are the armour-plated ships
Superb, Beileisle, and the Northampton, and the composite
sloops Garnet and Cormorant.
Last week the workmen at Chatham Dockyard commenced
lay ing down the blocks for a new armour-plated torpedo
ram which is to be built, and they have now commenced
laying down blocks on No. 3 slip for an unarmoured corvette
ordered to be built.

Several hundred men of the Chatham Division Royal
Marines are now ready for embarcation for foreign service.
They will shortly be medically examined before being
drafted to the ships preparing for commission at Chatham.
The enrolled pensioners have been informed that they
will be entitled to receive during the present month the
allowance of £1 per man which is always granted them for
procuring necessaries prior to being called up for training
and that all men over the age of 55 years have been struck
off the enrolled register.
The new infantry bayonet and the new regulation helmet
have been supplied to all the regiments included in the First
Field Army Corps.
Light iron girders, in sections weighing about 5 cwt. each,
for the purpose of forming bridges in connexion with the
line of railwiss purchased by the Government, are in course
of delivery at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. Without
reckoning the material supplied for trench rails, there is
enough railway iron and sleepers deposited on the wharves
at Woolwich to form a line twenty miles long. The influx
of stores, which has been almost continuous at the Royal
Arsenal and Dockyard, Woolwich, since the Vote of Credit
was passed, has now nearly ceased, but the work of pack-
ing and storing is still employing many extra hands. One
large store-room, 60 yards square, is filled with many thou-
sands of soldieis valises and water bottles, sufficient for the
supply of an army. Host of the bottles are of wood and of
Italian manufacture and design, the shifting of a peg
enabling the soldier to take a drink without any diffictllty ;
but a large proportion of them are ordinary soda-water
bottles covered in cloth or leather, and slung by a band
over the shoulder. These have been tried by the Militia
in the Autumn Manceuvres, and are said to be preferred by
the men as being strong, simple, and serviceable.
On Tuesday morning the Comus, the first of the six steel
corvettes building by Messrs. Elder and Co. for the British
Government, was launched from their building-yard in the
presence of a numerous company The vessel is of 2,300
horse-power; length, 225 feet ; estimated speed, 13 knots.
The coal bunkers are at the side, offering resistance to shot,
and the engine and magazine are shell proof. The stem
below She bow forms a powerful ram.
A number of recruits belonging to the Leicester Militia
have volunteered for the regular army.
The 2nd battalions of the Grenadiers, 2nd Coldstream,
and lit Scots Guards have received all the necessary equip-
ment for undertaking their own regimental transport

VoluAerieg has been opened for the 52nd, 58th, 78th,
and 90th Regiments, in order to bring them up to a war
strength to complete the orgauization of the Ist Army Corps.
A telegram from Montreal says that "the militia oftleers
are oftering their services to the British Government. Large
numbers of horses are being purchased for the British army.
Several carloads pass daily over the Grand Trunk line on
their way to the port of embarkation. Heavy shipments of
'cattle for _Europe are reported from the lower provinces."
The calling out of the First Army Reserve and Militia
Reseeve will permit the formation of two army corps with-
out draining the dei;eta of all the young and Immature
soldiers. An army corps consists of no fewer than 36,805
men of all ranks, aud consequently more than 70,600 troops
are required for two of them. rile true that we are already
supposed to have 100,000 men on the home establishment
unaer arms within the confines of Great Britain and Ireland,
but as these include many time expired men, non-effectives,
and striplirgs under six months' training, the mobilisatian
of two army corps would absorb every fighting soldier and
many others besides. The two Reserves at once make
matters easier. The 38,000 men thus called upon to serve
are still young in years, and all well drilled awl disciplined,
many of them having already served six years with the
colours. They will be distributed among various regiments,
and take their places in the ranks with younger and older
men. Were these army corps ordered abroad we should
still have between thirty and forty thousand regulars left
to guard our shores and to form the nucleus of a large
home army of reserves. The Militia, we are told
is not to he embodied, except in the event of an expedi-
tionary force actually leaving these shores, when there is
little doubt the whole of that body to the number of upwards
of 100.000 would be called upon to, serve, since several of
the regiments, as In the case of the Crimean Wax, would be
sent to hold Gibraltar, Malta, and probably other of our
Colonial possessions, that the regulars serving there might
he available for active service. Other of the militiamen
would doubtless volunteer for the line, should it be found
desirable to keep up the number of our regular troops
at home, and the only real difficulty about get-
ting men, we .suppose, would be in the cavalry.
Militia and Reserves do', not help us much here,
and in the formation of the two Army Corps now con-
templated there will probably be some lack of sebres, since
a single corps is supposed to muster nearly 40.000 cavalry,
' and our total at home of this arm is but 12,0e0 all told.
Theoretically of course we have more, because in the Army
! List we put down all Yeomanry regiments as forming part
of the active army. whereas the Volunteers and a large por-
tion of the Militia are relegated to the sedentary or garrison
army. Useful troops as they might be on occasion, we
hardly think our Yeomanry would be fit to take place in
brigade with a crack cavalry regiment.—Daily News.