The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-13 00:00:00

At 200 Yards.

Pnts.
Capt. Kershaw, Bth Lanca-
shire l6
Private Fellows, Victoria 16

I'nts.
Serg. Aldridge, 4th Dorset 17
Colour-Serg. Cortis, 11th
Sussex

Pnts.
Lieut. Har'and,sth E. YorK 15
Private Cunliffe, 26th Che-
shire ;5
Sergeant Bond, Ist Devon 15

At 500 Yards.
Pnts.
Private Fellowes,Victorla 16
Priva e Avis, Ist Devon 16
Ensign Pixley, Victoria 15
Private Chapman, 18th
Devon

The novelty of the apparatus introduced under
the auspices of the Count de Gendres for the pur-
pose of enabling the firing party to maintain instant
communication with the marker at the butts, by
means of electric telegraph, attracted numbers cf
spectators during the day. The arrangement is of
the simplest kind, and will be understood in a very
few words. At the firing point is a small oak post
about three feet high, from the base of which wires
coated with gutty percha run to the protecting
mantlet at the other extremity of the range, inside
of which, and quite under the control of the marker
at the butts, is a small electric battery, a call-bell,
or alarm, and an interrupter for the purpose of
breaking the electric current. As soon as the person
about to fire is ready, a small button on the summit
of the post is pressed down with the finger; this
completes the electric circuit, and the bell at the
butts immediately begins to ring, at the same time
that a needle on the dial of the indicator fixed to the
post is deflected, showing to the parties who have
set the apparatus in motion that the bell is ringing
to a certainty at the other end. It continues to do
so till the marker in his turn presses his finger upon
the brass knob of the interruption, which breaks the
electric circuit, stops the ringing of the bell, and the
needle at the firing end of the range immediately
reEumes its vertical position. Both parties then know
that all is ready and safe, and the shot is fired. The
perfect manner in which space is annihilated by this
little instrument must be seen to be believed. It is
asserted that in the course of experiments made by
the Long Range Club at Hounslow signals were
made after the shots had been fired and answered
before the bullets reached the targets. The material
of which the Swiss targets are composed did not
quite answer yesterday the expectations which had
been formed concerning it, but the necessary mea-
sures have been taken, and today matters will be
on a different footing.

One distinguishing feature of the annual gather-
ing at Wimbledon is the readiness with which it
adapts its arrangements to circumstances, however
unexpected and trying. If Volunteers in excess by
some hundreds of the numbers looked for, or which
ever came before, intimate their intention of sleep-
ing in camp that very night, the resources of the
secretary, Captain Mildmay, prove equal to the de-
mand. If some valuable prize be offered, or some
inleresting problem started which requires a prac-
tical solution, Captain Page, the executive officer,
is able to see his way through the maze of targets
and the labyrinth of squads to a day and an hour
when the competition can take place without inter-
fering with previous arrangements apparently
occupying every inch of the ground. Lastly, if
the system of marking has to be revolutionised in a
single night, Captain Drake, R.E., is the man to
do it. It remains, however, to be seen whether an
undertaking to which the Association has just com-
mitted itself, and which certainly was not foreseen
when their programme was drawn up, will be car-
ried out with the same success as its other arrange-
ments. Last year midnight meetings were of fre-
quent occurrence, and these have now led to a mid-
night match. The design had its origin in a letter
courteously addressed to the Association on behalf
of the Owl, the proprietors of which offered a prize
of £5O to be shot for on any conditions the council
might suggest. They naturally came to the con•
elusion that "the witching hour" was the only one
appropriate to such a contest, and they have ac-
cordingly undertaken to provide targets with trans-
parent centres, in which not bull's but owl's eyes
shall attract the aim of the marksman.
One of the principal difficulties which the Asso-
ciation has now to contend against arises from the
enormous addition to the htbours of the statistical