The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-07 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE BIRKENHEAD.

It certainly cannot be imputed as a fault to the Admi-
ralty or the Government that a naval officer of good re-
pute for skill ,and competency should in an unhappy
moment of temerity have navigated his ship in so reck-
less a manner. But the Board would not have been the
Board if it had altogether omitted such an opportunity
of raising itself in public opinion. We must refer our
readers to our Parliamentary report of this day for a
true account of the zeal and energy displayed by the
Admiralty, and our good old friend Sir John Ommanney
upon so momentous an occasion. Will it be believed
that the Duke of Northumberland, the Frat Lord, actu-
ally made this reply to a question addressed to him last
night by Lord Monteagle as to the fate of the Birken-
head? "As soon as the news that it was lost reached
the Admiralty by the newspapers, the Admiralty !enst
down a message by electric telegraph to the Admiral
in
Devonport, to inquire whether there was any truth
d not ent in-
lsocsosr scorns
the report; and, it there was,why he
Admiralty, es i:, their
1 telligence of it immediately to the
bserv.ed
No
agents had sent it to the newspapers in London.
return
neitvheanakdsdltional
tanswerturn
hiehad
attentionbeen
such Sir t Johnty tostytOt
eon;
sinh
aassvnetnneoey.
liveihn:imintoc 9 nannde la
additional
step.— the Birkenhead, and of 454
that since his meritorious exertions
the Amazon, Sir JohnOmmannetyo
The
honours, and been to Court
Birkenhead will, no doubt, help
step.-7imes.
___

—,--voR THE MIME RIFLES.
BIRMINGHAM, TUESDA
7HE CONTRACT,'
for A" y
.......w e
are happy to state
some weeks have existed
the differences which
between the master
rs of this town h at length
stockers and i
finshearranged, and that theave
been satisfactorily p y
1 of 23,000 DI" , Government
line rifles will be
contracts fora
omsup
menced and speedily executed. It
immediately
recollectede thatwhen
will be the specifications from
A f Ordnance the Boar- ° • were first received in this
the operative gun-finishers issued a circular to
town
the
0/makers likely to make tenders for the con-
tracts stating that the prices they should require
would be for stocking 3s. 9d., and for finishing
12g. 3d., making for the two branches 16s. To these
demands when the Ordnance orders were received the
successful contractors demurred, and offered the old
prices paid for the last line musket—viz., for finishing
10s• 54. and , as. `d. for stocking, or 13s. 103. for
both branches. Thus matters have stood since Ja-
nuary, and had it not been that the Board of Ordnance
was ultimately compelled to act with promptitude
and decision, the contracts in all probability would
never have been fulfilled by the Birmingham makers,
but have been transferred to Enfield for execution.
The latter end of last week, however, the contractors
received information that if the work was not ac-
cepted yesterday Mr. Lovell, the inspector of small
arms, was authorised to remove the materials;which
had already arrived in Birmingham, and that the
contracts into which they had entered would be con-
sidered null and void. This information was given
to the men ; and it was also intimated, that although
the Board of Ordnance had previously resolved that
the Tower work should in future be done in Bir-
mingham, in all probability the rejection of the pre-
sent contracts would have the effect of entirely and
permanently excluding Government orders from Bir-
mingham. This notification had its effect, an a
brought the contending parties to terms.
The four
contracting firms and a deputation from thec
a.
Gun-
makers' Society (of which Mr. Smith, h I
vteae,
embers)
and Mr. Frost, secretary, were
respective
cases
were appointed to state their resped by
to two arbitrators, and to be bone_re Mr.
d upon ^
their decision. The arbitrators agree
ears two ex-
Westley Richards and Mr. Joseph L
with the
perienced gunmakers, in no way
tc°o k place at the
Tower business. The interview a
d temperate discus-
Odd Fellows'-hall last night,
and
ensued. The matters
Sion of some hours' continuance
d were debated with the
in dispute, as we are informe