The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-03 00:00:00

Trial of Twin-screw Steamers.

_
Two very interesting trials of steam vessels pro-
pelled on the twin-screw principle took place on
the Thames during the past week. The vessels and
their engines were constructed by Messrs. J. and
W. Dudgeon, iron ship-builders and engineers, of
Cubit town yard and London street, City. On
Tuesday a small vessel, the Experiment, built to
order for the Admiralty for service at Ascension,
made her official trial, in Long Reach, under the
supervision of Mr. John Dinnen, Admiralty Inspec •
tor of Machinery Afloat, and the results were
highly satisfactory. The Experiment is only fitted
with engines of 20-horse power nominal, but in her
two runs over the measured mile she realised 7.659
knots against the tide and 10.009 knots with the
tide. Off Barking she took in tow a deep-laden
schooner of 200 tons and towed her to the West
India Docks against tide at the rate of 5 knots.
The Experiment is the first vessel fitted with twin
screws in her Majesty's navy. Her engines are
horizontal direct-acting high-pressure, and drive
two three-bladed propellers, having a diameter of
3ft. Bin. and a pitch of 7ft. 4in.
The second vessel, named the Edith, tried on
Saturday, is of a larger description than the Expe-
riment. She has been built for commercial pur-
poses, and is intended to cross the Atlantic. Her
principal dimensions are :--Length, 175 ft ; breadth,
25ft. ; depth, 15i feet ; draught of water, aft, 9ft.
Gin.; forward, Eft. Gin. Her engine-power is 200-
horse nominal, and the cylinders hare a diameter
of 34;n., with a 21in. stroke. The weight of the
engines, with shafting, tubes, and propellers, is 64
tons, and that of the boilers 35 tons. The propellers,
each driven by its own independent engine, have
each three blades of the common form, with a dia-
meter of Bft. 6in., a pitch of 16ft., and a length on
line of keel of 2ft. 4in.

The Edith left Gravesend at noon for Long Reach,
with a large party on board, including Mr. E. J.
Reed, Chief Constructor of the Navy; Rear-Admi-
ral Sir Edward Belcher, K.C.8.; Mr. John Dinnen,
Inspector of Machinery Afloat to the Admiralty ;
Captains Symonds and Selwyn, R.N., &c. On
arriving in Long Reach, a run was taken over the
measured mile each way, with and against the tide,
the ship realising under the latter circumstances a
speed of 11.803 knots, and with the tide 15 knots,
the mean of the two runs being 13.401 knots, which
was considered highly satisfactory. Her engines
averaged 100 revolutions under 281 b. of steam pres-
sure, and with a vacuum of 251 inches.
The eessel's course was next kept down the river
to obtain space for putting her through several
manoeuvres under steam, so as to exhibit the powers
of twin screws in relation to military purposes. On
reaching the position requircd the experiments were
prefaced by mrking two complete circles with both
screws going ahead, starting with the vessel's head
upon tide. The first circle was made in 4 Min. 10
sec., and the second in 3 min. 57 sec. The subse-
quent experiments, relating more entirely to mili-
tary purposes, were commenced by starting from a
state of rest with the starboard engine going astern
and the port ahead, the helm being hard aport. The
vessel turned a complete circle under these circum-
stances, with her own centre as the pivot, in 3 min.
29 sec., the mean revolutions of the engines being
84. The circle being completed, the engines were
suddenly reversed to opposite directions, and their
action upon the vessel was instantaneous, the
revolving motion of the ship being checked and
changed to the opposite direction with the
greatest ease and nicety. The manoeuvre was
repeated several times, and the vessel thus repre-
sented a revolving battery mounted with monster
ordnance, too heavy for training upon any given
object by ordinary appliances. The hull became the
carriage for such heavy guns,and trained them upon
any given point by revolving under the action of
the screws alone. This part of the day's experiments
was watched with very great interest, and gave the
liveliest satisfaction by the clear manner in which
it demonstrated the value of the twin-screw princi-
ple for military purposes.
The ship's course was next laid at full speed, both
screws going ahead up the river, the supposition
being that the vessel was carrying out hostile mea-
sures in the presence of an enemy, and that it sud-
denly became necessary to altogether alter the
vessel's course and retrace her path down the river.
The time was taken from the order " Hard over"
being given by the pilot, and in 1 min. 40 sec. the
Edith was in u straight course in the required op-
posite direction. Continuing her course thus, the
port engine we next stopped, and with the star
board continuing to go ahead the helm was put
over, and a full circle made in 4 min. 31 sec., the
revolutions of the engines being 79. This brought
the day's experiments to a conclusion, and the Edith
returned up the river for her destined outfitting
berth in the Wist India Docks, passing the mea-
eared mile in Long Reach, with a small drain of
g led tide in her favour, at the rate of 14.884 knots,
and making the distance from Gravesend to Black-
well, 21 miles, in 59 minutes, one of the quickest
runs on record.

It may be interesting to state here that the first
twin-screw vessel built by Messrs. Dudgeon, the
I.i'lora, was i-otno time after her launch puchased
fur the Southern States of America, ran the block-
ade successfully nine times, is now the property of
the Confederate Government, and is doing seryjee
as such on the Wilmin3ton River.

Dear Sir,—You ask mein your capacity of chairman
of the Wakefield Farmers' Club, to give you any in-
formation which may be useful in obtaining the re-
peal of the malt tax. There is really but one way
of succeeding in any public agitation—take the
ground of:principle and pressure. When I speak
of principle in connection with the malt tax, I mean
that the Anti-malt-tax League, if you form one,
should, as the Anti-corn-law League did, pledge
itself to the total and immediate repeal of the tax,
and then allow no discussion within its own body
upon any other subject. You have a stronger argu-
ment for taking this ground than we had, inas-
much as you are dealing with an excise tax, and
we were opposing a customs duty ; for it has
been laid down as a rule by Chancellors of the
Exchequer, and invariably acted on, that when-
ever an excise duty is reduced it should be
totally abolished, because one of the greatest ob-
jections to such taxes—the interference of the ex-
ciseman with the processes of production--applies
equally whether the duty be great or small. The
agriculturists have a peculiar claim to the obser-
vance of this rule in the present case, inasmuch as
the best farmers have protested against the duty, on
the ground that it interferes with the free applica-
tion of their capital to the fattening of stock upon
malt, and thus prevents the profitable growth of
barley on heavy soils. It has often occurred to me
to compare the case of the British agriculturist,
who, after raising a bushel of barley, is compelled
to pay a tax of 60 per cent, before he is permitted
to convert it into a beverage for his own consump-
tion, with what I have seen in foreign countries,
and I can really call to mind nothing so hard and
unreasonable, lam quite sure that the cultivators
of vineyards in France, or the groweis of olives in
Spain and Italy would never tolerate such treat-
ment of their wine and oil. And the extraordinary
feature of your case is that it has been made, as I
will, in a few worde, show you, the flagrant ex-
ception to an otherwise universal rule. In
1848 I published a financial programme under the
title of " The National Budget," in which I recom-
mended the repeal or reduction of a great many
duties and taxes, involving a very large amount of
revenue. Your letter has induced me to refer to
that document, and it is a suggestive fact that every
change then recommended has been effected, with
the notable exception of that item in which the
farmers are interested. In my projected budget I
suggested that the tea duty, which was then 2s. 2d.
a lb., should be reduced to Is. ; that the coffee
duties should be equalised, the wine duties revised,
and the legacy duty applied to real estate. I pro-
posed that the excise duties on malt, hops, soap,
paper, and bricks, should be abolished ; and that the
window tax and the taxes on knowledge, the timber
duties, and the duties on butter, cheese, and upwards
of 100 smaller items of the tariff, should be abolished.
These were all the recommendations contained in
my budget ; and it is, I repeat, a very suggestive
fact that all these changes have been carried out to
the minutest particular, with the sole exception of
malt, the duty on which remains precisely the same
as it was in 1848—namely, 2s 7d a bushel and 5 per
cent. Ido not allude to this for the purpose of
claiming merit for myself, for really I had but little
personal share in the good work, but merely that I
may remark, for your information and guidance,
that these reforms have been effected only because
they have had their earnest and persevering advo-
cates. Now I confess that Ido not entertain very
sanguine hopes that the agriculturists will be more
fortunate during the next fifteen years than
they have been in the past. The truth is, the
county members and the farmers do not, in
their hearts, seem to pull very cordially together
in this business. The moment the repeal of the
malt tax is mentioned, hints are thrown out by the
minister of the day that, if repealed, the amount
must be made good from a tax on property, and
the question is dropped. Now, be assured that
the House of Commons will never vote any
substitute for the malt tax. The reason why I
should hail a bona fide movement of the country
constituencies for the repeal of the tax is, that I
believe it must be accempanied by a reduction of
our present wasteful government expenditure. We
have for several succeeding sessions seen the Chan•
cellor of the Exchequer literally raising signals of
distress, and inviting the country to his aid in re-
sisting the expenditure forced upon him. Every
experienced member of the house knows that the
extravagance in certain government departments
increases just in proportion to the amount of money
they can obtain from the treasury. 'Withhold from
the government four or five millions cf income, and
still the revenue will exceed by five or six millions
the amount which sufficed for the average expen-
diture of Slr Robert Peel's administration from
1841 to 1846 ; and after long observation and
reflection, I believe this to be the only pro-
cess by which we can ever put a check
to that reckless waste of public money,
especially in obsolete and useless naval construc-
tions, and gigantic and abortive experiments in
manufacturing establishments, which, without any
gain of efficiency, has swollen our budgets to their
dimensions;ean early curtailment of
and by this process
areloctienetceannoi:aeouhs
opetose
our colonial expenditure, by which we fool away
millions yearly for the defence of communities who
are twice as competent to pay for their own protec-
tion as we are for ours. I wilt only add that should
this movement assuma the character of an honest
and earnest effort to abolish an unjust'act, and not
of a mere plaything for politicians, it shall have my
sympathy and support.--I remain, truly yours,
RICHARD COBDEN.
E. T. Simpson, Esq.

Boiler Explosion and Loss of Seven Lives,

On Tuesday afternoon an accident of a frightful
and fatal character occurred at the ironworks of Mr.
Thomas Johnson, seri, Church-lane, Hall-end,
West Bromwich, by which seven persons were
killed and 13 shockingly injured. It appears that
Mr. Johnson's works, which are known as the Old
Works, are connected with what arecalled the New
Works, in the occupation of Johnson and Co. There
are 10 furnaces in the old works, and 11 in the new,
together with shopping for millmen, rollers, bun-
dlers, stocktakers, bolters-down, and all the appa-
ratus and machinery requisite for carrying on an
extensive trade. There were about 40 men em-
ployed at the works of Mr. Thomas Johnson in the
day turn, and a similar number of men in the night
turn. Yesterday afternoon, at about a quarter past
3, after the men had returned from dinner, when
each one was busy with his work, and all seemed
going on as usual, a loud hissing sound was heard,
evidently proceeding from the direction of the en-
gine and machinery, and this was immediately
followed by a deafening report. In a moment
engine and boiler, machinery, furnaces, and human
beings were confounded in a heterogenous mass.
The boiler, a very large one of the kind, commonly
termed "egg-ended," was situated about the
middle of the premises, and the effect of the ex-
plosion was to blow the two sides of the boiler apart
one part being projected a
nearly at right angles,
distance of sixty or seventy yards into Church-lane,
and the other about twenty yards in another direc-
tion. The remaining portion of the boiler, and by
far the largest, was
hurled almost perpendicularly
into the air, and descended not far from the place
where it was originally fixed. The explosion was
heard at a great distance, and immediately after
the report hundreds of mechanics from the neigh-
bouring works for miles around rushed to the
scene of the catastrophe. Those in the immediate
vicinity describe the effects of the explosion as
darkening the air. Tons upon tons of bricks
and mortar were thrown into the streets. The shop-
ping was blown from its foundatioe, the roofs of
the various buildings in which the work was car-
ried on were literally riddled by the falling material.
Three only out of the eleven furnaces were left
standing after the explosion, and beneath that mass
of mingled iron, brickwork, and debris lay the
unfortunate men and boys who, but a few minutes
before, were cheerfully labouring, without dreaming
of the fate that was to overwhelm them,

The case for the plaintiff was that he was a butcher in
Durham, and on Saturday, 22d November last, after stand-
ing in the market all day, he went, tired with his day's
work, to get a glass at Bowes's Hotel, in Durham. There
the defendant, a plumber in Durham, who was described
by the learned counsel for the plaintiff as a boating, run-
ning, jumping, boxing man, came up to him, and without
speaking a word took him by one of his whiskers and gave
him a pull. The plaintiff complained c,f this, and then the
defendant took hold of the other whisker and gave it a pull,
pulling the hair out of his whiskers, hurting him very
much, and finally the defendant pulled the plaintiff down
on the ground by his whiskers, for, as the learned counsel
put it, go he must, or leave his whiskers. The plaintiff, ir-
ritated, said "the defendant was a blackguard for pulling
the whiskers of a man he did not know," when defendant
immediately challenged him to fight, pulled off his coat,
and, as the plaintiff would not fight, struck him a blow on
the mouth, which cut it and made it bleed, and so hurt
him that he was obliged to go to his doctor on the following
Tuesday to get his face doctored. Two witnesses were
called, who in the main corroborated this statement, but
admitted on cross-examination that there had been a good
a good deal of chaff between the parties before the assault,
and that in the course of it the company laughed at the
plaintiff, and he got angry.
The plaintiff denied that he was only a butcher's
slaughterman at 9s. a week. He did slaughter cattle, and
use the poleaxe to knock them down, but he was not given
to knocking down men, and had never been fined for thrash-
ing a policeman and tearing his clothes, nor for fighting.
The learned counsel in his opening said for the injuries
and affront his client had received he would be satisfied with
a proper apology.
The case for the defendant was that the defendant had
long known the plaintiff, and on the night in question on
going into this publichouse he good humouredly accosted
the plaintiff, and, touching his whiskers, admired them, and
asked him if he was cultivating his whiskers in the Lord
Dundreary style ? The plaintiff replied also good humour-
edly that the defendant was only vexed that he could grow
none, and said he would give him some of the seed, and that
thereupon the plaintiff got hold of him and scrubbed him
with his beard. The company laughed at this, and the de-
fendent said they were beautiful whiskers. The learned
counsel for the defendant noticing that he had now a
short beard growing, asked him if it had grown since the
plaintiff had scrubbed him. The defendant said it had.
(Laughter.) He had no beard before—not a hair. (Loud
laughter.) As the company kept laughing at the plaintiff
and his whiskers, the plaintiff got angry, and seizing the de-
fendant by his coat collar dragged him down backwards on
the floor and jolted his head on the hearthstone. As soon
as the defendant could get up he pulled off his coat and
said he would be even with the plaintiff, and then said to
him if he were a man he would stand up and have it out.
The plaintiff, however, said if defendant touched him he
would " Bench him for it." The defendant then admitted
that he struck him, being in a passion at the way in which
hehad been jolted. Three witnesses present were
called, who corroborated this version of the fracas,and who
stated that the plaintiff appeared to be no worse after it,
and, except a slight scratch on his lip, they saw nothing
amiss with him, but whether he got that scratch in his
struggle with the defendant, or from the subsequent
blow of the defendant, they could not tell. The plaintiff
was at his work on the Monday, and nothing seemed the
matter with hire. For the defendant his learned counsel
ridiculed the idea of an apology from a journeyman plumber
to a butcher's slaughterman, and contended that the badin-
age about the plaintiff's whiskers had been taken at first
goodhumouredly, and the touching his whiskers was treated
as a joke by the plaintiff, who had scrubbed the defendant
with his beard in return, and it was only when laughed at
by the company and beaten in chaff that he got angry. Up
to that time therefore it was ridiculous to say that there had
been any assault, and after that time the plaintiff had com-
mitted the first assault, and had received the blow in the
mouth in the course of the quarrel he bad himself provoked,
Even if the jury should be of opinion that the defendant
was in fault in striking the blow he had done, he had been
greatly provoked. the plaintiff was no worse for it, and a
farthing damages would be ample compensation.
His Lordship, in summing up, said if the plaintiff's case
were true, it was scarcely possible to conceive a greater out-
rage than that spoken to by the plaintiff and his witnesses,
and left it to the jury to say whether they were satisfied
with his version of the affair, which was in part confirmed
by the defendant's evidence. If so, they must find for the
plaintiff, with such reasonable damages as they thought the
defendant ought to pay.
The jury retired,and after being absent some time returned
with a verdict for the plaintiff—damages, ono farthing.

MIDLAND ClRCUlT—WAinvicii, March 1.
NISI PRIUS COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn,)
JORDAN V. WATSON,
This was an sequin for seduction.

Mr. Sergeant O'Brien and Mr. Stephen appeared for the
plaintiff, and Mr. Macaulay, C., and Mr. Merewether for
the defendant.

The plaintiff is a farmer and innkeeper, living at Pailton,
near Rugby, and the defendant is a farmer occupying a
considerable quantity of land in the same parish, of which
about 100 acres are his own property. The plaintiff lived
with his wife and only child, Ellei; at the White Lion Inn,
and his case was that in 1860 the defem::nt became a fre-
quent visitor at tha White Lion, and began t, :)aY.marked
attention to the plaintiff's daughter, who was then it.qveara,
of age. At Whitsuntide, 1861, a feast of the Odd Fellows
Club was held at the White Lion. On that occasion, about
11 o'clock at night, the defendant fetched the plaintiff from
an adjoining room into the bar, and there, in the presence of
several members of the family, asked for permission to marry
his daughter, The father made no reply, but the intimacy
between his daughter and the defendant continued. In the
early part of 1862, Ellen Jordan and the defendant were in
the habit of walking out together in the evening, and con-
tinued to do so until the girl found out that she was pregnant.
In August her mother discovered the girl's condition, and
informed the father of it in the same month. The father
was very angry, threatened to send the girl to the Union,
and ultimately became so violent that the daughter in Octo-
ber went out of his way to London for a few days. After
her return she remained at home till December, when she
again went up to London, where she stayed till after her con-
finement in February, 1853.

The case for the defendant was that he, although he had
been too intimate with the girl, yet that, as that intimacy
had not commenced till the latter end of July, 1862, he
could not have been the father of her child, which was born
in the early part of the following February. It was also sug-
gested that the girl had been too intimate with a groomnamed
William Lumbers, who had been staying at the White Lion
in the early part of 1862 in charge of his ma Btu's horses. In
support of this case the defendant himself was called, and
swore that his intimacy with the girl had not assumed an im-
moral aspect till the end of the month of July. He did not,
however, deny that ho had paid attention to the girl for some
time previously, or that ho had proposed marriage to her
father in 1861. Several other witnesses were called, who de-
posed to having seen the girl and William Lumbers walking
together, and one in particular gave evidence of a scene he
had witnessed in a field near Pailton, in May, 1862, which,
if true, added great probability to the supposition that
Lumbers was the father of the girl's child. A Mrs. Bate-
man, who kept a haberdasher's shop in Pailton, stated that
in October the girl told her she was with child and was
going to London to marry Lumbers. This was before th
girl left for London on the first occasion, and the witness
added that on her return the girl begged her to keep the
secret as to Lumbers, and said that she should lay the child
to Mr. Watson, The girl herself upon her cross-examina-
tion denied all this, and also that she had ever been intimate
with Lumbers, or had permitted him or any other man to
take improper liberties with her. Lumbers also was called
in reply, and denied that he had ever been in any way inti-
mate with the plaintiff's daughter.

Attention was called by the learned Judge to the fact that
although the parents were aware of their daughter's con-
dition in August, yet nothing was said to the defendant on
the subject till the month of October, During the interval
between August and October the defendant was in the habit
of visiting the White Lion constantly. On being charged,
however, with being the father of the child with which the
girl was then pregnant, he denied it, and ceased to visit the
house. Nothing more was said to him about the matter
till the following September, a period of 10 or 11 months,
when he was served with the writ in the present action.
The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages,
£l5O.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—OXFORD, Feb. 29.
There was no civil business for these Assizes, and there-
fore both the learned Judges sat this morning to try pri•