The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

R. Murchison ; and on other subjects they took the opinion
of Professor Airey and Dr. Hoffman. He quite admitted
bthuattthife tdhieffireeuwltaysmanuystlahregtebeexmtenetsiobny ipnlatchineovrorks carried
on that the department would not be equal to its duties,
a permanent
commissioner at the head of the office, but by increasing
the number of professional men at its disposal. And no
doubt before long such an addition would have
to be made. The right hon. gentleman then proceeded
to consider the suggestions made by the hon. member,
and declared that either the appointment of a permanent
head of the department, or of a boat(' to assist the chief
commissioner, would be decidedly retrograde legislation.
The right hon. gentleman concluded by reminding the
house that, unlike other departments. the Office of Works
was simply an office of expenditure, and, therefore, that it
ought to be directly responsible to Parliament. He en-
tirely denied that it had been shown that there was any
flaw in the constitution as it had existed since the year 1851.
The house then divided—
For the motion
Against it
Majority against 92
CHURCH RATES.

Lord A. CHURCHILL asked leave to introduce a bill for
the amendment of the law with respect to church rates.
The bill consisted of two clauses, and it provided that for
the future no penalties shou.d be recoverable for the non-
payment of church rate's,. The machinery for making rates
world remain, but the bill repealed all power of levying a
distress if payment was refused, no matter what the motive.
Of course it was impossible that the bill could be passed into
law at that advanced period of the session; but his object
was to have the proposal considered during the recess.

Mr. J. EWART seconded the motion.
Mr. NEWDEGATE must withhold his assent from the
principle of the bill ; and he did not think the noble lord had
much chance of success.

Sir (r. 3REY said that, in allowing the bill to be intro-
duced no one would be deemed to have assented to its prin-
ciple. subject to the understanding that it was to stand
over for consideration during the recess, there was no objec-
tion to its introduction.

Leave was accordingly given to introduce the bill.
THE NAWAB OF THE CAUNATIC.

Sir F. KELLY rose to move for a select committee to
inquire into the claims of his Highness Azeem Jah to the
title and dignity of Nawab of the Carnatic; and otherwise
in respect of a treaty entered into between his highness's
father, Azeeth-ul-Dowlah and the East India Company,
and the circumstances attending the same. The hon. and
learned gentleman recounted at some length the particulars
of the arrangements entered into between Azeem-ul-Dow-
lah and the East India Company, the principal condition of
which was the guaranteeing to the prince and his successors
the absolute sovereignty of the Carnatic; while, on the
other hand, the East India Company were to manage the
civil and military administration, and receive the revenues
of the country, with the exception of one-fifth (amounting
to £120,000 a year), which was to be appropriated to the
family of the prince. The Lon. and learned gentleman coin.
plained of the contemptuous silence with which the present
claimant had been treated ; for he had been told that he had
lost all right of succession to the Carnatic, that the treaty
had ceesed with the life of his father; but that if he was
willing to become a subject a pension would be granted to
him of £lO,OOO a year. The prince, whose cause he had un.
dertaken to advocate, indignantly refused this insulting
offer, and what he now asked was that a committee should
be appointed to inquire into the justice of his claim. Of all
the princes of India none were more scrupulously faithful to
the British Crown than the Nawabs of the Carnatic. The
sovereign rights of the family were also recognised by the
native princes of India, and specified in numerous treaties,
and he therefore appealed to that sense of justice and honour
which always resided in that house, and which was never
absent from its deliberations, to institute a searching in-
quiry into the claims of the prince, and grant him the re-
dress to which ho was entitled.

Mr. SMOLLETT seconded the motion, and was proceed-
ing to address the house, when
An HON. MEMBER noticed that there were not 40 mem-
bers present.
The house therefore adjourned at 25 minutes before nine
o'clock.

Mr. Davey has paired with Mr. Way for the remainder
of the session. '

HER MAJESTY'S SHIP CONSTANCE,

A competition has commenced between three of onr prin-
cipal steam engine manufacturers. In order as far as pos.
Bible to put all the competitors on equal terms, the Lords of
the Admiralty selected three frigates of the same model,
built at Pembroke, as nearly as possible from the same
lines as those of Sir Wm. Symonds, with similar midship
sections, and having about an equal draught of water. The
Arethusa, 35 guns, 3,141. tons, at Sheerness, has been sup-
plied with engines by Messrs. John Penn and Son—the
Octavia, 39 guns, 3,161 tons, at Portsmouth, has received
hers from Messrs. Maudslay—and the Constance, 39 guns,
3,213 tons, at Devonport, is fitted by Messrs. Randolph,
Elder, and Co., of Glasgow. The average consumption
of coal in the Royal Navy is estimated at the present
time as between 31b to 41b. per indicated horse power; and
one of the main objects of the competitive trials is to en-
deavour to prove the possibility of reducing the consump-
tion to a little over 21bs. To gain this saving of fuel it
was necessary to make the engines of the Constance
heavier, larger, and consequently more expansive than those
'of corresponding power on board other ships. It is, how-
,ever, but justice to the' manufacturers to state that much of
the weight is to be attributed to a desire to retain the means
of reverting to the present mode of working, should the new
mode be found unsuccessful. In consequence of this desire
the boileis fitted to this ship are much larger than are re-
quisite for her new engines.
The Constance as originally constructed sat on the water
gracefully, and was ranked among the fastest frigates in the
service. Sir Baldwin Walker carried his flag on board her
when captain on the Pacific station.. She was recently
lengthened at Devonport to receive the screw, and her ap-
pearance Is, if anything, improved by the alteration. The
frigate carried originally 50 guns, and is pierced for that
number now ; in the.Kavy List she is down for 39 guns,
but it is probable that owing to the altered condition of our
armament she will carry only 36 ; they will, however, be as
heavy as a ship of her class can sustain. Above 60ft. have
been added to her midship section, and 13ft. aft to adapt her
for the reception of the propeller. Her dimensions now are
—length, 252 ft. ; over all, 236 ft.; and extreme breadth,
52ft. ; tonnage, 3,142 tons. The masts are not yet stepped.
Her draught, with 40 tons of coal, and 70 tons of water, is
17ft. forward, and 20ft. 9in. alt.

The builders of the engine have supplied her with a pair of
what are termed double cylinders, or compound engines of
500 horse power combined, which are bedded in a block of
solid cast-iron weighing 50 tons. Well upon each side of the
engine room-she is fitted with three cylinders, the pistons

from which work directly on the crank shaft. There are three
cranks, each of which receives two connecting reds. The
middle cYlinders are high nressure, the other four are low
pressure expanding cylinders. The diameter of the middle
cylinderis 60 inches, and the others 781nehes. The ac..
tion of thesurfaCe condenser's can, if required, be changed'
while the engines are in motion, and the engines can be
worked in the ordinary way by sea-injection. When all
are in action, the steam is expanded partially in the high
pressure cylinders, and from them still further into the low-
pressure cylinders, down to a pressure of about 101 b. below
the atmosphere before it escapes into the condensers. Such
a degree of expansion is difficult to obtain practically with
any other class of engines in consequence of the unequal
action of the steam in the cylinders. The condensers are
surface condensers; each contains 1,398 tubes, through
which the condensing water is drawn by means of two cir-
culating pumps. The two condensers contain 2,616 tubes,
the external surface of which, for condensation, is 5,848
square feet, being rather more than 11.5 square feet per
nominal horse power. The tubes of the condensers are

packed so that when they require cleaning they can by

easily removed and replaced ; each tube is lift. Sin. long.
The total length of the 2,616 tubes is over 5t miles. The
object of the surface condensers is to separate the, condensed
steam from the cold water used to condense it, so as to se-
cure a supply of fresh distilled water with which to feed the

boilers, instead of using sea water, which is the only re-
source when surface condensers are not applied. This is an
important means for diminishing the consumption of fuel.
By this mode the necessity for blowing off when sea water
is used is aveided, and the steam power economised. Ac-
cording to recent arrangements the system of jacketing is
extended on board the Constance, as in many other newly-
supplied.ships. The sides and ends of all the cylinders are
jacketed with steam and well cased with staves of mahogany,
which firmly enclose a covering of felt. The Constance has
four boilers, partially superheating, with six furnaces to
each boiler. The fire-grate surface is about 57 square feet
Per nominal horse bower. The stroke of the engines is 31t.
3in. The diameter of the propeller shaft is 14in., its length
from the sternmost coupling to the thrust block 86ft., and
from the thrust block to the engine, 13ft. llin, The length
of the boss of the screw, one of Griffith's double-bladed, is
4ft. Gin. ; diameter of screw, 18ft.; and pitch, 27i feet.
The weight of the engines is 190 tons, of the boilers
160 tons, and of the water in the boilers 70 tons.
The stowage for coal is 260 tons; the consumption of coal
r "
by the new engines it is expected
that about o 0 tons daily
by ordinary engines would be from 70 to SO tons per day ;
will be sufficient. Although the space occupied by the ma-
chinery
for some engines, yet the aggregate space for
be required
of which, consequence of the decrease
of the Constance is greater than that which would
machinery and coal is less, in
9 "lb n,ip.
lieyham steamyard, with a pressure of steam of ..,e ~ e
of her coal stowage. At the trials in the North Basin,; •
revolutions were 36 per minute. The engines of the Con-
stance are started by two steam donkeys, the management
advantagea
proves a very ready and rapid method of reversing, Ix. It
plications of which
while it reduces the labour of the engineers,
is, however, doubtful, as in all similar cases, whether the
b lanced by the introduc •of
of help of this kind is not occasionally counter-
balanced more machinery, the com-
always involve additional risk of failure.
As the Constance, like the Arethusa and Octavio, wainot
built originally for the reception of steam machinery, consi-
derable difficulty has been experienced in placing her en-
gines. It is in consequence of the sharpness of the frigate's
floor that the three cylinders each side are carried well up