The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-26 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence,

The contract for the new and extensive range of
barrack build ings in course of erection at Chelsea
for the Guards having to expire in the month of
June, 1865, 'che greatest activity now prevails in
the works at the rear of the barracks. It will be
remembered that the pile of buildings erected in the
Romanesque style, and having a frontage in the
new road leading to the Chelsea suspension bridge,
was finished and opened for occupation about 12
months ago, since which time the erection of the
church and schools, gymnasium, ball and raquet
courts, washhouses, regimental and barrack stores,
workshops for the tailors, shoemakers, and carpen-
ters, &c., canteen, prisons, and dwellings for the
married soldiers, has been commenced and is now
being rapidly pushed forward. The dwellings for
the married soldiers are divided into three separate
blocks of buildings closely adjoining each other, and
modern improvements to insure the health and con-
venience of the soldiers and their wives and families
have been introduced into them. The rooms are
lofty, airy, and well lighted. Adjoining these
blocks of buildings is the church, the foundation.
atone of which was laid a short time since, and
which, when completed, will be consecrated by the
Chaplain-General of the Forces. The building,
part of which will he appropriated to the purposes
o f a school for the education of the children of the
as may not
soldiers, and also for such of the soldiers
be able to read or write, will contain sittings for
800 men. It is being built with light brick, Port-
land stone, and granite. The gymnasium is being
covered with a roof surmounted by a glass tower.
The internal portion of the roof will be of stained
wood, and the necessary apparatus will be fitted on
Mr Maclaren's Principle. The ball and raquet
courts, ,which adjoin the gymnasium, have also a
roof covering, and will be fitted up with the latest
improvements- The prison is a detached building,
and contains 24 cells for solitary confinement. The
canteen, the erection of which has just been finished,
is situated at the rear of the barracks. It will be
provided with billiards for the men, and one part
of
.the building is assigned for the non-commissioned
officers, and the other for the privates. It is esti.

mated that the whole range of building covers an

area of about 18 acres. i'120,000 have already been
voted by Parliament for the works, and the pro-
bable cost will be 1150,000. Mr George Morgan,
of Dines-inn, Strand, is the architect, and Mr
Higgs, of Lambeth, the builder.

The reinforcement for the Ist battalion of the 12th
Regiment, the 43d Light Infantry, and the 6th
company of the Royal Engineers, that were to have
left Chatham some time back to augment the corps
serving in New Zealand, have been detained at that
garrison in consequence of the required amount of
tonnage not having been taken up for them. It is
not possible they will embark for their destination
until the ensuing month.

Among the most important of the improvements
ne w in progress at Chatham for extending the naval
establishments at that port, which were inspected
by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on
the occasion of their recent visit, is the enlarge.
meat and extension of the Royal Marine Barracks.
Owing to the comparatively limited space at the
barracks for the officers and men of the Royal
Marines at their headquarters, Chatham, it has been
necessary for some time past to quarter a portion of
the men of that division with the troops of the Line
in the infantry barracks, an arrangement which is
obviously attended with many inconveniences. To
remedy these, as well as to prevent anything ap-
proaching overcrowding in the barrack-rooms, the
present buildings are being enlarged to more than
double their present size, by which additional
avommodation will be provided for 1,000
Rene. This has been effected by the erec-
tion Entirely new barracks, but the buildings
have been so arranged that they in effect form
a continuation of the present barracks, which are
thus enlarged and made to accommodate more than
double the number for which they were originally
intended. A portion of the structure has already
been completed by Messrs. Foord and Sons, the
Admiralty contractors, and is now occupied by the
Marines. In addition to the quarters for the non..
commissioned officers and privates, a commodious
block of buildings is also about to be erected for the
officers of the divisice. Io order, at the same time,
to euiarge the present rather confined parade-
ground, the row of houses occupied as field-officers'
quarters, and some of which are used as offices, will
be taken down and the barrack square thrown open
to the public road, which, by an arrangement come
to between the Board of Admiralty and the local
Board of Health, is to be diverted to allow of the
original plans being fully carried out. In order to
provide the required quarters for the officers of the
division, a portion of Chatham Dockyard is to be
taken in, and suitable residences for the subaltern
officers erected at the extreme western end of the
yard, on toe site of the master ropemaker's house,
which the workmen have already commenced taking
down. The public roadway leading to the New-
stairs, which intersects the Marine barracks and the
dockyard, is to be bridged over to allow of commu-
nication with the barracks and the quarters in the
yard. The grand division offices, commandant's
offices, pay, adjutant's, and other offices will at the
same time be removed into a suitable building, and
all brought together under one roof. The improves
meats now being carried out, as well as those in
contemplation, will, on their completion, make the
Royal Marine establishments at Chatham the most
perfect of their kind in this country.
The following movements of troops were an-
nounced at Woolwich on Wednesday :—The head-
quarters of the 4.,,h brigade garrison Artillery, in
command of Lietat,-Col. Anderson, C. 8., and two
batteries (the A and B) commanded by Lieut.-Col.
Barry, C. 8., and Lieut.-Col. Turner, are under
orders to leave Alderehott on Tuesday next, passing
the night at Hounslow, and march into Woolwich
garrison on the following day. The sth (Northum-
berland) Fnsileers, in command of Col. W. C. Master,
C. 8., now stationed at the Tower, are under orders
to proceed to Woolwich ; and the 13th brigade
Royal Artillery, now at Woolwich, in command of
Col. Travers, will probably go to Dover and relieve
'the 2d brigade Royal Artillery, in command of Col.
Maclean, under orders to embark about the middle
of September for the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena,
and the 'Mauritius. Her Majesty's iron troopship
Orontes, 2,812 tons, and 500-horse power, has been
appointed for the conveyance of the brigade to their
station.

Major-General Warde, C. 8., commanding at
Woolwich, paraded the whole of the troops in gar.
rison in dismounted 'order in front of the Royal
Artillery barracks, and made a careful inspection of
the men and their accoutrements on Wednesday.
The General was attended by Brigade-Major Hay ;
Copt. Nangle, Deputy-Assist.-Quartermaster-Gen.
Captain Wiiliams, Aide-de-Camp, and the officers
Commanding brigades and battalions.
Oa Tuesday Mr. Westley Richards's experimental
gun, manufactured in the Royal gun factories,
Woolwich, was fired at the proof butt, with a view
of testing and organising the breech-loading appa-
ratus, which consists of a block and plunger. The
charges were respectively 101 b. and 151 b. of powder,
and a shot weighing 119Ib. After the second round
it was found necessary to suspend further proceed-
ings, in order to make some slight mechanical at.
teration, on account of the block having expanded,
so as to render a continuation of the proof a matter
of diffictiltY. The escape of gas is effectually re-
medied by Nlr Westley Richards's well-known felt
cup attached to his charges of powder, and which
was SUCCe3fUIIY used yeeterday. The length of the
buns is 17 feet, and the weight 9 tons. After the
te`
6
gun Vihl ha fired two additional
alterations the
rounds, wl•2013 the charges Will be increased Sib. of
Ie neiler each. Major Freeth,'. • Inspector of Ordnance,
and other officers of the Ito Yal Artillery were in at-
tendance, as well as Mr Richards himself, The
rifling of the gun is of the polygrot)ve system, and
the materials and genoral prirciple of the gun were
spoken of as being good. gun i 3
The stamped as
made of "Firth" steel, and the. breech portion is
overlapped and strengthened with a wrcught.iron
covering, termed " a jacket.'
Admiralty instructions have been received at
Woolwich urging the construction of Mr Reed's ex.
perimental ship Pallas to be completed
' with all pos.
bible expedition. Additional hands have been placed

on the work for that purpose, and her launching is
fixed to take place on the 20th December next. Mr
Reed's 8 gun iron-cased corvette Favourite, in dock
at Woolwich, and in progress of being plated, is
ordered to be hastened with all dispatch, so that the
dock may be vacated to receive the as after the
launch on the 20th December.

A naval court martial, under the presidency of
Capt. Sherard Osborn, C. 8., assembled yesterday on
board her Majesty's ship Victory at Portsmouth for
the trial of Lieut. Ernest B.Wadlow, of H. M.'s ship
Prince Consort, on a charge of being asleep on his
watch on the night of the 3d inst. The prisoner
pleaded " Guilty to the charge, and the Court sen-
tenced him to be dismissed his ship, and to be placed
at the bottom of the lieutenants' list. Lieut. Wad-
low's date of seniority is the 3d of April, 1863.
The Alfred target ship, at Portsmouth, has a gang
of workmen employed upon her alongside Ports-
mouth dockyard, filling in her maindeck ports
on her port side, and preparing her as a target
for shell practice. When she is completed the
batch of Armstrong and Whitworth guns, recently
received on board the Excellent from Woolwich,
will be tried upon her.
The Royal Sovereign, ssgun turret ship, Capt.
Sherard Osborn, C. 8., is under orders to leave
Portsmouth harbour and join the Channel fleet at
Spithead to-day, the day appointed for the fleet to
sail on its western cruise.

The Duke of Wellington, three-decker, training
ship, Capt. John Seccombe, has bees placed in the
Warrior dock at Portsmouth to replace some sheets
of copper on her false keel.
Yesterday Commander R. Stokes, Master Attend-
ant at Chatham dockyard, assumed the charge of
that establishment during the absence, on 14 days'
leave, of Capt.-Superintendent W. H. Stewart, C.B.
The paddlewheel steamer Adder, Master-Com-
mander W. J. Blakey, employed on harbour ser-
vice at Chatham, has been fitted, by order of the
Admiralty, with Lumley's patent rudder.

Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by the
Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, the Princesses
Helena, Louise, and Beatece, and Prince Leopold,
attended by their respective suites, crossed over from
Osborne yesterday afternoon in the new paddle-
wheel Royal yacht Alberta, Capt. his Serene High-.
ness the Prince of Leiningen, and landed at the
Royal Clarence yard, whence the Royal party pro•
ceeded by special train, under the charge of Mr
Godson, at 4 o'clock to Windsor. The Commander-
in-Chief, Admiral Sir M. Seymour, K.C.B ; Major.
Gen. Lord W. Paulet, C.B.,commanding the south
western district ; Capt. Shad well, C. 8., Superin-
tendent Royal Clarence yard; Capt. F. Scott, C. 8.,
A.D.C., and Col. Thackwell, D.A.G., were present
to receive her Majesty.
The Royal yacht Alberta, Staff Commander
Welch, will leave Portsmouth harbour this morning
for Flushing, to be in attendance and embark their
Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess Louis of
Hesse, and the Prince and Princess Leiningen, on
the 28th, when they will proceed to Dordrecht en
rouse to Germany.

The Royal yacht Victoria and Albert, Csptain
his Serene Highness the Prince Leiningeo, will
corns into Portsmouth harbour this morning, and
after coaling proceed immediately to Gravesend,
where the Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse are
expected to embark for Flushing tomorrow after-
noon.

The Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, Admiral
Sir M. Seymour, K.C.8., embarked yesterday
evening on board the Sprightly steam tender Master
Commander Allen, and proceeded on his usual visit
of inspection to the Channel Islands, &c. During
his absence the duties of the port will devolve on
Rear Admiral George Elliott, Admiral Superin-
tendent.

The Enchantress, Admiralty yacht, Staff Com-
mander Patly, returned to Portsmouth harbour yes-
terday morning, after being in attendance on the
Lords of the Admiralty.
The defects in the screw steamship Majestic, 80,
Capt. James A. Paynter, now in Devonport dock.
yard, are so extensive that the Admiralty have de-
termined to place her in the !mirth division of the
Steam Reserve in Hamoaze. Her crew will pro-
bably be transferred to the Donegal, 81, also at
Devonport, in which ship they will resume their
duty in the Coastguard service at Liverpool.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty—Lient. Robert H. Harris to the
Prince Consort, Lieut, Charles Mason to the Edgar,
and Gerald Yeo, surgeon to the Excellent.