The Express.
London, England, 1858-04-01 00:00:00

LAUNCH OF AN IRON SCREW STRAMER.

SOUTHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Northam was launched here to-day, :from the ship-yard of
Messrs. Summers and Day, iron ship-builders, at Northam,
about a mile from Southampton, oa the river Itchen. The
Northam is en iron ',crew steamer of 1,600 tons burden, and
400-horse power. Her length over all is about 300 feet,
breadth 34; feet, and depth 26 feet. She is the largest iron
steamer ever built in the neighbourhood of Southampton.
The Northam is • beautiful model and immensely strong.
She is built with every improvement which shipbuilders,
so fertile in inventions, have yet discovered, including one or
two recent inventions which have not been tried in other
ships. At the suggestion of Captain Engledue, the Southamp-
ton Superintendent of the Peninsular and Oriental Company,
and in order to add to the Mann, of the sleeping cabins of
the Northern, jalousies or Venetian blinds are substituted for
windows. Each sash of these blinds is very wide. and
formed of two parts joined by an invisible hinge. When
the blinds are closed the two parts lap over each other ; but •
passenger, u he lies in his bed, can touch a spring and the
two parts of each sash will open to any to
let in light and air from the saloon, and aoextent ingenioue y I.
this contrived that the opening will not enable any we to re
Into the cabin from the saloon. In the Northam the screw
also is placed so low in the water that, while it is strictly
within the line of effective propulsion, no rolling of the ship
can lift the screw out of the see, so as to render it in-
opmstive. By the addition of the new reseal, the number of
ships belonging now to the Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany's fleet is brought up to forty-five, equal in number to
the sailing fleet of the United States navy. The Northam
ook about twelve months to build, and will be ready for sea
when her boilers end engines are placed in her, which will
soon be done in the Southampton docks. The great ad-
vantage of iron ships ie the rapidity with which they can be
commenced and finished. The seasoning of the timber for
wooden ships requires years of preparation. The iron may
be in the ore deep in the earth one year, and the next It may
be formed into • beautiful ship. A crowd of ladies and
gentlemen stood on • platform close to the bow of the
Northam yesterday. Precisely at noon workmen commenced
knocking away the shores, and In less than eve minutes the
good ships and glided majtetically into the water,
minted with &ewe and the waving of hats. A
daughter of one of the directors of the company
named the ship. There were present to witams
the launch, Mr. Willoox, M.P., Mr. Wegnelin, H.P.
and Mr. Hadow, directors of the Peninsular end Oriental
Company ; Mr. Allan, Managing Director of the company ;
Captains Engledue, Kellock, Brooke, and Goodricige ; Mr.
Judge Haliburton (Sam Slick), and a number of ladies aced
gentlemen belonging to the town and neighbourhood, besides
• crowd of pentode who saw the launch outside the ship-
yard. The weather was unfavourable, or the hundreds of
people would have been increased to thousands.
Messrs. Summers end Day were congratulated not
only for the beauty of the ship which they had
built, but also for the emcees of the launch, which went
off without a hitch. After the launch came a very liberal
lunch, provided in the ship-yard, where every one drank
moons to the Northam in bumpers of champagne. The
village of Northam is close to the ancient Rotuma town of
Clausentom. A few years ago it contained only • few cot-
tage., which were 'operated from Southampton by a marsh.
That march is now covered by a populous town, inhabited
by working men, chiefly connected with shipbuilding. Mr.
Summers is one of those men who contributes to spread the
fame of England far and wide. A most ingenious and prac-
tical mechanician, ha has, by the exercise of unswerving pro-
bity and industry, risen from obscurity to eminence, and
been a greet benefactor to Southampton. At Northam he
has elected, at a oat of thousands of pounds, an iron ship-
building yard and a steam factory. The latter is • place
where von is cut, punched, acraped, bored, turned, planed,
sawed, bent, filed, rolled, and polished with as much ease are
if it were the softest material. The banks of the lichen now
rival those of the Thames, Mersey, end Clyde, as the seat of
ship-yards and steam factories.

THE TOLL REFORM MOVEMENT.—Testarday after-
noon a meeting war held at the Royal Oak Tavern, Barki
road, for the abolition of metropolitan tolls, and eapedally
that over Barking-bridge. over the river Les, the boundary
line between Essex and Middlesex. Mr. Ashdown occupied
the chair. It was stated that between 5,000 and 6,000 per-
sona passed over the bridge every dal, the great majority of
whom were hard-working men. It was unanimously agreed
that a memorial, praying for the abolition of the toll, should
be presented to the Earl of Derby sod Mr. Disraeli, and that
petitions to both HOMO, of Parliament should be adopted.
" DISCOVERY" OP AN EXTENSIVE FAILURE IN
DllNOnla Another temporary check has been given to the
netoralion of mercantile confidence in Dundee by the die-
corer, of a large failure which occurred three months ago.
The failure is that of Mews. William Brand and Co., mer-
chants, of Dundee and New York, for a sum variously
stated at from 60.0001. to 80,0001..—the firm being reported
to have entered into an arrangement about Christmas last
with nine large creditors, to pay 10s. in the pound. The
circumstance of this failure having been concealed from the
latter end of December to the present time is, of course, seri-
ously commented upon. The apology made for it, no doubt, is
that the announcement of such a failure in December last
would greatly have aggravated the local dif6culdes of the
aria;
bat this excuse goes for little with those who contend that
secret strangemente of this nature are utter! wrong
In principle, and moat pernicious in practice.
closet be carried on without confidence, but nothing so
destrnotive of confidence as deception, and no deco am
be more disastrous then that of a number of item b-
ooming puttee to an act of ineolvermy and then concealing it.
There can be no doubt that any such concealment I. fraught
with danger to the best hirsute of commend; sad It is the
more to be protested against when we see the leading men in
our staple trade compromtrinctheureelvea in connexion with
it. Only yesterday week the Dundee Chamber of Commerce
listened with argent to an expression of opinion that the
utmost publicity should be One to the eircazastanda at-
tending every insolveney ; and yet hare is an instance in
whit* • number of the moat Influential members of the dime-
ber had committed themselves to aconosehnest of insolvescy.
—Tholes Adwresier of Tuesday.
A RESULT or THE NIGZIL EXPEDITION.—Yeater-
day (Wednesday) the ship arrived at Liwnewl with
a aerie of paha oil and vary from Laird'a Tows,
being the ibet oommercdal result of the Niger espy=
oat by Mr. Wagregor Lad, elLoodos.