The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-27 00:00:00

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TUE ADMIRALTY INQUIRT.—LIGHTING ALL VES
EELS AFLOAT. —We understand that the committee have
finally agreed on their report as to the most efficient mode of
carrying out a uniform system of lighting all vessels afloat.
We stated on the 12th instant that the evidence did not
favour the fixity of coloured lights on Maid small vessels,
but that they should have them in readiness to exhibit at
any moment of emergency. After a full consideration of
the whole of the circumstances, we are informed that the
cimmission have agreed to recommend that system of light-
ing and signalling, subject however, we suppose, to certain
suggestions in perfecting the details.—Shipping Gazette.
ROYAL ARSENAL, WOOLWICH, MARCH 26.—The
practice by the officers and non-commissioned officers of the
various regiments that have detachments atWoolwich, for the
purpose of being instructed in the use of the new pattern
rifle musket, under Major Brownrigg, of the Grenadier
Guards, was carried on to-day, first at 500 yards range from
a rest, and subsequently by the whole of the non-com-
missioned officers file firing at 200 yards range, and the rifle
sustained the high character it had attained on previous oc-
casions. Lord Ranelagh was present to-day with two of his
rifled rifle carabines, and Major Brownrigg fired fifty rounds from
them, and hit the target, six feet square, fifty times in suc-
cession, at 500 yards range. The practice with the Minis
rifle will be carried on in the Marshes to-morrow. Mr. Lan-
caster, Mr. Wilkinson, of London, and Mr. Greener, of Bir-
mingham, gun-makers, were present yesterday, and the two
former ramie very good practice with their rifics. Mr.o
Greener was only present to witness the practice.
Experi-
ments were endeavoured to be carried on Na ith cannon
in the Marshes to-day, but the great number
of vessels
prued. sing on the river prevented more than t •
fi
o rounds being

GREAT GRIMSBY DOCKF.—TO give RR idea of the
amount of material consumed in this large undertaking in
the Docks alone, we may mention that there were used from
400,000 to 500,000 cubic feet of Ashhr, mostly from
tha
Anston quarry, as used ht the new Parliament Houses;
250,000 cubic yards of rubble • 330,000 cubic yards
40,000 tons of blue lias from 'Lyme Regis, and that there
were were 1,000,000 cubic yards of excavation. All this wto.ni_
Die to
be in sight, but what was out it was utterly impossible
;
say ; the only thing kept any registry of was thee piles, if
and under the quay wails, lock bottoms, of chalk;
sce'n'dt the timber
placed end to end, would me:-.3ure 75 mild, a miles of timber
laid on the pile heads 40 miles; in all, kgmlwill be about
12 inches square. The total cost of the
50,0001. the works were designed Civil Engineers, and
Rmdel, President of the Institute .
of
tion, as engineer-in-
have been carried out under his !-!.
dbrencith ; they ware com-
menced in the s;,ring
(Alia, by the resident, Mr. Man? _a
i la month of April,
1,1:c Mr. James M.
Albert laid the first stor.le,
1849, his Royal Highness 1:!1',I.,, weighing eleven tons,.with
a large block of '6 liramle, 1',./..ing it is expected, will be
rrhifi under ,4 ,
for traffic. The
great ceremony. Tats node of 'May
W ' ht.—
partially•
•opened b,,,,Y. ' gutchings, Brown, and r.g.
c int r actors sre 31e—of IStg,racend

Builcier:-
THE ITOLIIINAD AND DuDLIN PACKET SERVICE .--
packets have been employe ,1 in the conveyance
oTf:thtset:in.a:aite between lioly.head and Dublin since the con-
entered into with the City of Dublin Steam-
ornpany in 1850. These vessels comprise some of the
steamers 11113 St. Be is an average of their re-
wective lengthq of paczage: —The Banshee, 4 hours 7
4iinute3; the Prince
Arthur, 4 hours 25 minutes; the Lb-
-1,01, 4 hours 39 minutes; the Llewellyn, 4 hears 40 mi-
nutes; the Caradoc, 4 hours 40 minutes; the St. Columba,
4 hours 50 minutes; the Iron Duke, 5 hours 12 minutes;
the Windsor, 5 hours 15 minutes; and the Duchess of Kent,
5 hours 15 minutes. The Banshee made the shortest passage
ti?ti:ascikesett
between port and port, which was accomplished in the
menth of September, IF4B, in 3 hours and 41 minutes.
This vessel and the Caradoc are now employed in the Medi-
terranean mail seivice. The Lhhnia and L:t.wellyn me on
a par, the firmer haying male Cul trips, with, an average of
4 hours 39 minutes, and the tatter 694 trips in 4 hours 40
minutes. The fastest vessel on the line now is the Prince
Arthur.

By the accounts from Paris, it appears that the
terms upon which the Bank of France reotlo. mmaigkhetaedovnatninceuse
o h
on railway shares have been announced, and that in the
case of the leading lines the amount of each loan is to be in
the proportion of CO per cent. upon the market vi.lue of the
14p.oerrshonof sharewithl,.o,o by
borrowing the
balance; and as the companies in question pay dividends at
security.ti nearly ln
this
3 ,w 0 03031. a
the rate of from 5 to 7 per cent., while the charge for the
loan would be only 3 per cent., the stimulus likely to be
imparted to speculation may easily be es'itnated. In the
case of railway bends the advance is to be in the proportion
of 80 per cent.

Parry, whose bencht it was, and who
QUEEN'S THEATRE.-This little theatre was, last
Wednesday evening., crowded to excess, to do honour to Mrs.
ceive, had a bumper. The new drama of the Corsican
Brothers, which was well sustained throughout, was the
opening piece— each and all the several parts being
Mr. O'Hara was the chief feature. per-
formed with apparent satisfac' ion to the numerous audience .
we were glad to per-
The laughable farce ty The Omnibus followed, in which
We do not recollect
having seen that gentleman's art ever better performed,
for, from his first scene to the last, he kept the house in a
continued roar of laughter, and wasseveral times greatly, and
deservedly, applauded. The performances concluded with
the Dead Shot. The house was crowded to excess.
LIGUTHOUSES.—By an annual return presented to
the House of Commons (printed on Wednesday), it appears
that in the year ending the 31st of December last, with the
bAarce in hand, the Corporation of Dublinreceived
164,918/. 17s. Ild. on account of lighthouses in Ireland.
Large sums were disbursed for various lighthouses, &c. The
balance due to the public,
was 91,88911 20. 194 M stikted A the ehd of the year;

IV TT N.
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ADMIRAL BERKELEY'S STEAMERS t;-- ---11_-_—:
,)
Admiral Berkeley's declaration the other night in M 0.% il,i e, . '
House of Commons has diffused a general feeling of - •-,11,47Nr
confidence throughout the country, which is almost too
delightful to be consistent with the realities of life. The
Oxford statute De bombardis non gestandis may now be
made of universal application. We want no Minis
rifles, no Zundnadelgewehrs, no revolvers, no spring
bayonets, no horrible contrivances for slaying our poor
fellow-creatures.
46 We gentlemen of England,
Who live at home at ease,"
May trust to Minim' Berkeley
To guard our native seas.
That gallant officer has solomoly stated, in his place in
the House of Commons. that at the shortest notice he is
Prepared to line the southern coast of England with
efficient war steamers withia signal distance, of each
other. There is no hallucination about the matter.
This is not the rash assertion of some harebrained
navy contractor, who burns to attempt at sea what
Messrs. Fox and Henderson have accomplished on dry
land. Admiral Berkeley's "Great Exhibition" is ready
prepared. As a question of fact,
he has got his
steamers ready. If they be not already coaled and
victualled, all that is necessary could be accom-
plished in so short a space of time as to be unde-
serving of serious account. It would appear that
we have throughout been the dupes of our own Admi-
ralty Board. In order to blind the oyes of our anti-
cipated enemy more effectually they
have actually con-
sented to deceive their own countrymen. The M.egeara
is a crack, not a cracked, steamer. Mr. Goldner's
preserved meats may be a trifle inferior in delicacy to
Strasburg pie, but not much. If ever intelligence of
any little mishap of this nature should get about, don't
let us be disheartened; it is merely a ruse de guerre to
inspire the foe with a feeling of our defenceless condi-
tion and lure him to his own destruction. Admiral
Berkeley is waiting for him round the corner. That
gallant officer has his hundred steamers ready for a
rush. We protest that so far from being actuated by
any inhuman desire for vengeance and slaughter, ea
against any poor fellows who may be sent by their Gee
vernmente to attack cur shores, our feeling towards
them now is one of positive compassion. Why will they
come near Admiral l3etbeley? They have but little
idea of the craft and foresight of that distinguished
officer. We will venture to assert that they have as
little idea as we have ourselves as to where those hun-
dred steamere, which are to blow them out of the water,
may be lying at the present moment. They don't know,
and we don't know—but Admiral Berkeley knows. He
sees them all "in his mind's eye," with the captains on
the paddleboxes and the guns cleared for action.
Admiral Berkeley is so hard upon the newspapers and
their infamous stories that we are almost afraid to put a
question to him upon naval matters. But we are really
at a loss to know where the various detachments of this
steam squadron may be lying at the present moment. Is
it possible that they are carefully stowed away in cara-
vans and ostensible waxwork shows in some midland
county? We would, with all humility, suggest that it
would be a great satisfaction to the public if we could
be informed whether or no the Hydra, the Vulcan, and
the Simoom are to form part of the armament. Perhaps
the intelligence that reached London yesterday of the
mishaps that had befallen these steam-ships may be only
a fresh addition to the budget of infamous stories about
the Admiralty steamers which somehow or other will
get about. The Hydra was to convey General Cath-
cart to the Cape. We have received advises from Ma-
deira, which inform us that ere the ship had reached
that island on her outward voyage she sprung
a strong leak, and the pumps were at work night
and day until she reached Funchal. In addi-
tion to this trifling mishap, the good steamer
Hydra had been three times on fire be-
tween England and Madeira. There would
certainly appear to be this advantage in an Admiralty
steamer—that a passenger has his option between va-
rious modes of death. A man is not necessarily drowned
on board a Government steamer; he may be burnt if he
prefer that fashion of departure. But this is not the
only misfortune that has eccurred to Government
steamers within the last two or three months between
Plymouth and Cupe Town. There was the Megsera—
but no more of that. Now we have a fresh anecdote
about the Vulcan. This steamer left the Cape of Good
Hope on the 3d of January and reached the English
coast on Thursday last, the 25th of March. The Bos-
phorus, a merchant steamer, sailed from Table Bay just
one month after the Vulcan had taken her departure,
and reached Plymouth thirteen days before her. Thus
the Government ship was forty-three days longer on
the passage than the merchant ship. But this is
only half the tale. The Simoom, a huge Government
screw•steamer, went to the assistance of the dis-
abled Vulcan; but if the intelligence that reached
London be true, the machinery of the Simoom also
gave way before she could get into Plymouth harbour.
Hereupon two more Government steamers, the Avon
and Confiance, wore sent out to help the Simoom. No
tidings have as yet reached us of the fate of these two
hapless vessels; but to judge from the fate of their pre-
decessors the very worst may be apprehended. We
look for tidings of more ships disabled and more assist-
ance sent. However, if there are steamers enough
forthcoming, no doubt one may at last succeed in towing
the whole file into port.
Now, we should be very glad if we might be in-
formed whether or no the Hydra, Vulcan, and Simoom
are three of the steam squadron on which we are to rely
for the protection of our homes. There are not wanting
persons who proclaim the Phantom squadron to have no
existence but in Admiral Berkeley's imagination; but
this is, of course, an " infamous story," like the dis-
closure about the ?degsera and the preserved meats. The
real truth may be, that after all Admiral Berkeley is
the Flying Dutchman, ard will help us in our hour of
r.,%.,3 in some manner peculiar to such abnormal beings.
Times.