The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-05-25 00:00:00

Cftrinu anb Nal.

An order will shortly be issued from the War•office
increasing the allowance for soldier servants, drawn by
certain classes of officers.

The Admiralty authorities have orderel that all troop,
transport, and convict ships chartered by the Govern-
ment are in future to be fitted up, at the expense of the
owners, with ventilating apparatus to exhaust the foul
air from the vessel's hold, and between decks.
H.M.S. Cumberland, 70, struck upon a rock on the
15th of March, in the river Plate. Luckily she got off
again without material damage, though she sustained
enough to necessitate her return to England to be docked
and repaired. The ship was in the full charge of a pilot
at the time.
The following regiments, which have been serving in
India since 1842, will, it is understood, return to England
during the present year, viz. :-10th, 29th (Worcester.
shire), 78th Highlanders, 84th York and Lancaster, and
86th Royal County Down. It is also stated that the
32nd (Cornwall) Light Infantry, which embarked for
India in 1846, will likewise return to England this
year.
The Southampton waters were on Tuesday afternoon
the scene of a nautical spectacle somewhat novel in its
character, but at the same time strikingly illustrative of,
the pre-eminence enjoyed by our countrymen in the art
of naval architecture over those of other nations. Four
handsome steamvessels, built by Messrs. J. and R.
White, of Cowes, for service in the Turkish waters, were
on that occasion handed over to the proper authorities,
and, as a sort of semi-official, semi-complimentary re-
cognition of the event, the little fleet steamed up from
the lale of Wight to Southampton about mid-
day to embark a select but distinguished party
for a short trip down the river. Of the four ship', two
are paddlewheel steamers, built for the Imperial Otto-
man Company, and intended to ply on the Danube;
the other two are screws, belonging to the Turkish
Government, to run on the Bosphorus and Dardanelles
for the purpose of towing vessels or carrying passengers,
as may be reauired. They are all schooner rigged.
Of the 10 ships intended by the Turkish Government
to carry out the Treaty of Paris, four of the number are
about being built at Messrs. White's establishment at
Cowes—viz., two corvette. of 800 tons each, one despatch
screw gunboat of 601 tons, and a gunboat of 200 tons.
The other six are to be built in London. A new screw
boat, named the Bosphorus, was despatched from the
' yard at Cowes on Monday week, as an accession to the
fleet of the Chirket Company, for which 12 boats had
previoutiy been built at thervaine place. These vessels
are to ply between the villages on the %Thorns, which
could only previously be reached by the inhabitants in
their calques, and which is occasionally difficult, the
current always running one way, at the rate of four or
five knots per hour.
The Woroestershire Militia, having returned from
Ireland last week, have been disbanded this week, and
on Tuesday the last of the regiment were dismissed.
Each man received on his dismissal the balance of his
bounty and a gratuity of a fortnight's pay. The force
has also been highly complimented for its efficiency, but
the officers complain that they have been dismissed
from duty unprepared, having been led to expect, when
embodied, that they would be on active duty in Ireland
or elsewhere for at least three years.