The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-06 00:00:00

Commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.'
Lessee and Manager, Mr Lindus.
THIS EVENING, THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. Mr. H.
Marston, Mr. Wallace ; Miss Constance Aylmer, Miss M.
Oliver, and Mrs. B. White.
After which, the New Grand CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME,
" RIQUET WITH THE TUFT ; or, Harlequin and Mother
Shipton." Mr. G. Belmore, Mr. C. Seyton, Misses Gray and
Hudspeth, Mr. Milano, Mr. R. Power, Miss A. Collinson;and
Mr. Halford. A

The VTBATIEEIL—Sun Office, Jan.' 6, 1863
•

THERMOMETER.
Highest since Noon yesterday
Lowest during the night
This day at Noon .
Barometer-29.12.
Wind—.S.-Westerly; light, with rain during the night
and this morning. Afternoon, fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 2h. 58m.—Afternoon, 3h. 16m
To-monnow.-Morning, 3h. 31m.—Afternoon, 3h. 50m

Tht

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LOATDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1863.

Several years have elapsed since the Admiralty
instituted a searching inquiry into the efficacy of
various kinds of anchors. The trial was a severe
one, and great credit was given to those who con-
ducted the investigation for the fair way in which
it was carried out. The Admiralty anchor, although
not the worst, was very far from being the best,
and was proved to be not only far more weighty
than TROTMAN'S and some others, but to be consi•
derably more expensive. The fiat was therefore
given against it ; but notwithstanding the judg-
ment of the committee, until a very recent date,
and, for what we know to the contrary, up
to the present time, only two ships in the
Royal Navy had been supplied with patent anchors,
viz., the Victoria and Albert and the Black Eagle;
the Admiralty having entered into a sort of dooms-
day contract with some firm some centuries ago to
supply anchors at a fixed price until somewhere
about the above-named date. We mention the
above fact, not so much to hold up Admiralty short-
comings to censure, but to show that in a quarter
where expense is seldom taken into account, the
interest of the service has been neglected. Still, on
the whole, our ships are well found, and if the
anchors be not of the best quality, they in
general answer their purpose, and the cables
are always tested to a far severer strain
than there is any probability of their being
subjected to in actual service, and a man-of-war
is far more likely to drag her anchor than to part
her cables. How different is the case with the
small fry of the merchant service a glance at
the yearly wreck chart will painfully demonstrate.
The larger class of merchant ships are as well
found as those of the navy. There is a strict I

supervision kept over the equipment of the fleet of
the Peninsular and Oriental Company, the Atlan-
tic Packet Companies, and all the leading mercan-
tile traders. The number of their ships renders
it necessary for them to become their own insurers,
and to replace the loss or decay of any particular
vessel by a sinking fund yearly deducted from the
profits of the company. It is therefore evidently
to their interest to take every precaution to prevent
disaster. The loss of any of the abovenamed
ships is generally owing to thick weather, or a
mistake in reckoning, and to vessels of this class
intimation of danger is too often only given by the
striking of the ship. These large companies
possess fleets of ships equal to, and in many cases

superior, to the navies of other nations, and of

_ .
vast service to our own Government in the con- armaments ?" is his feeling. We question whether
veyance of troops and stores, yet they form but
a Mall minority of the merchant fleets of he can understand the groan with which that five
or twenty pounds is paid by thousands.
Britain. The majority of our ships
Great Perhaps the leader of the Opposition in the
ms who possess but a limited
belong to Br num-
these a) Lords is liable to much the same danger in this
ber
re therefore, insured at pri- respect as the Premier; but its leader and several
;
vats offices; and, as the owners will be indem- of its best members in the Commons are not. Mr.
nified for the loss of the Vissels, they have not the DISRAELI is by mental temperament, and by his
classes,
o f all
same inducement to provide them with first-class study better aware of what a taxation
stores. We do not charge all with
berg actuated of seventy millions means in
b eans in the case of the thou—
by such unworthy motives; but it is the
duty of sands it distresses, but who cannot from their
insurance companies to put every restraint on those ' position proclaim their distress. While the maths
who have a temptation held out to them to neglect maticians and hard calculators all denied that there
the safety of their property. It is a melancholy I ought to be any difference of rate in the income
fact that by far the greatest number of vessels i tax, he first declared it to be not only equitable but
wrecked on our coast are of under 500 tons burden, practicable. We imagine, too, that it was his
and that of this number a large majority perception of the cruel pressure of that tax
are lost by the breaking of their cables. on smaller incomes which induced him to
We have mentioned above that in the Royal Navy
suggest just the sum—five millions—as a
all chains are tested, or, as the term goes, proved
reduction, which Mr. GLADSTONE had said would
before being accepted from the maker. Now these enable them to dispense with the Income-tax alto-
chains, to resist the required strain, require to be
gether. Mr. GLADSTONE has always been under-
made of superior iron, but even then some flaw may stood to wish for such a reduction himself; but, as
exist in some part which will cause the chain to a matter of fact, ho has not been master of the situa-
break, and it is forthwith rejected. To meet these tion. He laid himself open to taunts from the
expenses a higher price is of course
necessaryl Opposition, and met them, " in a Parliamentary
charged, but this, according to Mr. TROTMAN, does
shilling per hundredweighta sense," by accepting his joint responsibility for our
not exceed one ' and huge expenditure. Mr. Disnatea has, however,
eighty-two per cent. of merchant service cables shown the great boldness of proffering reduction
when tested broke at a strain not equal to one
in words which will never be forgotten, and almost
quarter of what sound iron is calculated to withstand. committing the next Tory Ministry to some sub-
The question stantial relief of the people.
may be asked, Is not the cure of this
in the hands of the masters and crews of our coasters We hope his former Ministerial colleagues will
and other vessels who might refuse to sail in vessels be wise enough, on this point, to follow his lead.
not provided with proper and effective ground We observe that one who is rather prone to ant the
tackle ? Were such a question put to any skipper rebel sometimes against his leader, Lord n
—ROI=
or mate he would reply, ~ if I
were to hint MANNERS, now that he is appealing to a Tory
such a thing to my owners I should be told county constituency, is disposed to accept his po-
to clear out, and that somebody else hieye That healthful process, " a bath in a popular
would be too glad to take charge of the eleotiOn," has cleared his vision and braced his