The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-20 00:00:00

The disembarkation of the Guards from her Majesty's
screw troopship Himalaya took place at Portsmouth on
Monday, under the personal
_supervision and direction of
Col. Shadwell, Assist—Quartermaster-Gen. for the South
Western district. The Guards landed from the Himalaya
at the transport jetty, and marched thence, headed by the
drums and fifes playing "The British Grenadiers," to the
north end of the dockyard, where some 60 carriages, divided
into two special trains, were drawn up for their reception on
the line of Government railway parallel with the iron foun-
dry and convict prison. As the men halted in line with the
carriages sections were told off to each carriage, and the
men were seated in their places in readiness to com-
mence their journey to Pimlico in an incredibly short
contusion.t ed w2i tph.omu.t
wt
ahse
the slightestina o
fi
x eepdprboya ct hh e
at bustle o
uo
thouristiies
furr
the seconl train to leave Portsmouth. Five minutes be-
fore that time it was clear of the dockyard boundary, and
it passed through the I.,,ndp,)rt Station exactly at 2 p.m.
The whole of the at rangements and their punctual xecu-
lion reflected great credit on Col. Shadwell. Major-Gun.
Lord W. Paulet, C. 8., accompanied by his aide-dc-camp,
Capt, St. John M, Paulet, rode into the dockyard to wit-
ness the disembarkation and departure of the Guards,
The Wnrrior, 40, screw iron frigate, Capt. the Hon. A.
A. Cochrane, C.B ,lying at Spithead, on Monday transferred
the troops she brought to England from Gibraltar to the
shore at Portsmouth is Government steam tenders. This
fine ship was only four days and three hours from Plymouth
to Gibraltar. In returning she used her canvass freely
along the Coast of Portugal, and stood off the land to some
distance under the inflaence of strong N.E. breezes, and the
voyage home was therefore a little in excess of the voyage
out, but the Warrior has done her work, including tho re-
ceipt of her orders and the final landing of her troops, in
less than a fortnight. A contemporary has expressed an
opinion that the employment of a ship such as the Warrior
on occasional troop service, of the kind she has just so suc-
cessfully completed, must necessarily be an expensive mode
of carrying on such service. This theory is, however, ets
tirely wrong if judged by the results of the Warrior's work.
The Warrior brought 400 military passengers from Gib-
raltar to England, and the consumption of coal during the
voyage out and home could not well represent in hard cash
more than one half the sum that would have been paid for
the conveyance of the same number of troops from Gib-
raltar to England in the mail steamers. Irrespective of the
Pew emic view of the question, however, it is quite neces-
sary that the cruisers of our iron-clad squadron should not
be confined to channel "groping,'' and that they should
be occasionally sent across the " bay" for 'a look into the
Mediterranean, if only to show what could be done by them
should their services at any time be urgently required.
When the Warrior was first commissioned there were num-
bers of people who predicted that if she was sent to sea she
must founder in the first gale she met with. She is now ad-
mitted to be the finest and most weatherly frigate in the
British navy. It is but an act of simple justice to the cap-
tain and officers of the Warrior to state that no ship could
well be in a higher state of efficiency than she is at the pre-
sent time. Documentary evidence at the Admiralty proves
the high state of the discipline of her crew, their high pro-
ficiency in gunnery, and the extraordinary number of trained
seamen guriners turned out of hand on board. All this and
the general smartness and order of everything on board have
been on several
-occasions highly eulogised by the Lords of
the Admiralty and Commander-in-Chief. Not one of the
ship's crew has undergone corporal punishment during the
three years and four months the ship has been in com-
mission. The Warrior has no defects, and only requires
coaling prior to again sailing from Spithead to rejoin the
Channel fleet. The Admiralty have, however, no coats at
Portsmouth at present, and the Warrior, with the Tamar,
Victoria, and other vessels, must wait the arrival of expected
cargoes.

The following memorandum from the Admiralty has been
promulgated st Portsmouth dockyard :

" Sept. 19, 1894.
_ _ . . . .

" Their Lordships have appointed F. Edgar, shipwright's
apprentice, J. C. Spencer, J. A. Itedbrook, and J. Grainger,
engineer students. to be students at the School of Naval
Architecture at South Kensington. Further instructions
will be sent when the school is ready to receive the stu-
dents."

The 2d company of Royal Engineers, under orders to em-
bark for the Mauritius, together with the reinforcements of
the same corps selected for service at St. Helena and New
Zealand, have been furnished with their sea kits at head-
qrsarters, Chatham, and each detachment made up to its full
complement, in readiness for embarkation. The companies
were inspected on the parade ground at Brompton barracks
on Saturday morning, and they will probably embark during
the present week.
By direction of the Admiralty a survey has been made of
a number of the vessels composing the sailing reserve in
Chatham harbour, preparatory to their being sold out of the
navy, the whole of them, with some few exceptions, being
altogether unsuited to the present requirements of the ser-
vice. There are about 50 vessels of various rates and siz,s.
The greater number belong to the Symonds class of frigates
and sloops, which, although considered perfect models of
n.val architecture a few years ago, are now, for all prac-
tical purposes, perfectly tisele,s as ships of war. Of tne
number stated some of the old line of battle and other ships,
such as the Ocean, the Renown, the Devonshire, and the
aloucester, are doing good service as receiving, hospito', and
coal ships; but the rasjoriiy, including the Ganges, Si, the
Vanguird, SO, the Chichester, 50, and the fine frigates
Nankin, 50, Vernon, 50, Southampton, 50, and a vast num-
ber of sloops end igac sof lesser tonnage, are rotting in
the harbour. They impede the navigation, and each ship
requires a staff of warrant officers and men to be kept on
board for the purpose of looking after the vessel. Several
of the squadron of sailing vessels in the Medway have been
turned to profitable use by being fitted for training and
school ships, and sent to the Thames, Liverpool, Bristol,
and many other of the principal ports, and it is deserving of
the serious considerati,n of the Admiralty whether, consi-
dering that probably not one of the numerous sailing ves-
sels of war now lying at Chatham will ever again be required
for service in warfare, it would not be advisable to utilise
all the available vessels of this class for purposes of sea-
manship connected with the mercantile marine rather than
keep them in idleness until they are only fit to be broken up,
as it is expected will be found to be the case with the majo-
rity of those now in the harbour.

Her Majesty's steam troopship Fox, Staff Commander
Pullen, sailed from Woolwich on Saturday for Spithead,
laden with the whole of the machinery appointed for the
new despatch vessel Helicon, two of her boilers, and two
boilers for the screw corvette Pearl. As the weather wag
inclined to be stormy, she was expected to bring up for the
night under Dangeness or the North Foreland, when Capt.
Pollen said he would have a favourable opportunity of
putting the resisting power of Capt. Rodgeree new anchor,
shipped immediately before his departure, to a first new trial,
and would report the result on his return to Woolwich.
Her Majesty's 6-gtua vessel Landrail was on Saturday
masted and rigged down in basin at Woolwich, in prepara-
tion for recommission.

A few months ago a wholesale system of fraud on the
part of a recruiting-sergeant of Royal Artillery, named
Saunders, was detected by the authorities at Woolwich. The
delinquent, 'who is supposed to have enriched himself to a
considerable amount by the success of a cleverly-managed
scheme, worked out for several years, broke his arrest, and
effected his escape from the place. The case is still under
investigation. Major Hay, the Garrison Brigade-Major,
has now attended at the Woolwich Police-court before the
sitting magistrate, and exhibited a huge bundle of attesta-
tion papers upon which the signature of the magistrate was
supposed to have been forged. Mr Bousted, the chief clerk
I and solicitor, after examining the documents, marked nearly
the whole as forged, a few only being genuine and three
doubtful. The mode adopted by Saunders is now for the
first time publicly disclosed. In nearly every instance a false
return was grafted as it were upon a true one which had been
previously used. Two instances will be sufficient to illus-
trate the system :—A gentleman's son, named John Camp-
Ibell, ran away from his home and enlisted in the Royal
Artillery, passed the doctor's examination, and was attested
Being discovered by his friends, he was released by purchase.
Saunders took the attestation papers, added the words
" Lee," making the name John Campbell Lee, and received
about 20s for enlistment money, and three or four days'
pay to the imaginary recruit. A young man named
John Jarvis also enlisted, and is still serving, but his
attestation paper was made to do double service by the ad-
dition of the word " Watts," and the money was obtained
twice. Some of the frauds, however, appear to have been
differently carried out. The surgeon's signature has in a
few cases been also forged, and it is believed the recruit's
also, when he had failed to pass the medical inspection, or
had absconded after enlisting, as was frequently
the case.
A paper has been found bearing the signature as witness of
a non-commissioned officer named Morgan, and no signa.,
ture of the recruit himself. This led to the discovery that
Morgan, who was employed in the office, had been in the
habit of supplying these papers in blank, against the regu-
lations, and giving them to Saunders, to procure the ingna-
Jure of the recruit. The number of papers at present ascer-
tained to have been forged is about 100, and a further
number is expected to be forthcoming, as the inquiry, a
very difficult and tedious one, is still in progress. The
fugitive sergeant is supposed to have joined the American
I army.

RAILWAYS AND BUILDING LAND IN THE ISLE OF
WIGHT.—The opening of the Eastern Section Rail-
way, from Ryde to Shanklin, which line will soon be con-
tinued on to Ventnor and Newport, thus connecting Cowes
with Rydo, has given a great impetus to building at all
stations: Sandown, a favourite and fact increasing resort
on the Isle of Wight coast, owing to its unequalled bathing
sands, has greatly increased in houses and population of late
years, and now that it has the advantage of a railroad bring-
ing it in close proximity with Rydo and Newport, the
demand for land has recently much increased. Tho Con-
servative Land Society has just acquired the Sunnyside
estate, within half a mile of the Sandown station. The
property is in one of the most picturesque positions, com-
manding a grand panoramic view of a great part of the in-
terior of the Isle of Wight, with an uninterrupted frontage
to the sea. The Sunnyside estate has two approacheas
one at the upper part of Sandown, a short distance from the
church, the other on the Shanklin road, adjoining the par-
,
ischage grounds, besides a footpath on the cliff. This is
the first land acquired in the Isle of Wight by the society,
making its 51st estate in 21 counties.