The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-17 00:00:00

TILE PRINCE CONSO.R2 MEMORIAL.

Yesterday at three o'clock the committee in the
city of London engaged in raising a fund for' a
national menlorial of the Prince Consort held a
meeting at the Mansion-house. There were present
the Lord Mayor, Mr. Henry Cole, C. 8., Mr. S.
Gregson, M.P., Mr, George Godwin, Mr. Charles
Hill, Mr. W. Foster White, Mr. Henry Ghinn, and
Mr. Goodman. It was stated that the fund up to
that day amounted in the aggregate to about
£45,860, of which upwards of £1,600 had been re-
ceived within the past week alone. A letter ad-
dressed to the Lord Mayor by the secretary to the
Oriental Bank was read, to the effect that their
Bombay agent bad made arrangements with the
Agra and United' Service Bank for receiving con-
tributions in aid of the fund, and remitting the
amount by each mail to this country.
The LORD MAYOR, in reply to a question by Mr.
GREGSON, said, of lat 6 doubts had been entertained
whether the block of granite in a quarry belonging
to the Duke of Argyll, in the island of Mull, upon
which the attention of her Majesty's Committee of
Advice had for some time been concentrated, would
answer as to grandeur the purpose of a monolithic
obelisk in perpetuating the Prince's memory.
Drawings of the stone carefully prepared had recently
been laid before the committee by the chairman of
the Mull Granite Company, from which it appeared
that, although it was about 115 feet in length, yet
it undulated in places very considerably, so much
so that when lines came to be drawn along it,
making an allowance for the necessary form of an
obelisk, some of those indentations were within the
lines, thus detracting from its aptitude for the pur-
pose in view. The company had been at sorZe ex-
pense in uncovering it as it lay, and, although pt.'r-
haps its precise character and dimensions could only
be satisfactorily ascertained by degrees in the pro-
cess of quarrying, still the defects in its breadth in
places to which he had alluded had induced the com-
mittee to pause before incurring greater expense in
a work which might, after all, prove abortive. In
no other quarter had they heard of a stone of
suitable proportions. The Lord Mayor added, he
was afraid the great mass of the people of this
country had yet to be educated, so to speak, into a
thorough appreciation of the grandeur and appro-
priateness of the obelisk, and especially a monolithic
obelisk, for monumental purposes. There were
some who appeared to regard the setting up a huge
stone for such a purpose as simply symbolical of a
barbarous age. With great respect for the opinions
of others, he could not help saying he altogether
dissented from such reasoning ; besides, it was
well known that it was not until the Egyp-
tains had reached the highest point in their culti-
vation of art that obelisks became conspicuous fea-
tures in their style of architecture ; and he thought
it would have been a glorious thing for England,
where a monolithic obelisk worthy of the name was
utterly unknown, to have made this occasion for
erecting one of consummate grandeur.
During the last week contributions to the fund
have been received at the Mansion-house at the rate,
on the average, of more than £2OO a-day, and there
are unmistakeable signs of the subscription being
taken up in many new quarters, and among others
by congregations in churches and chapels, officers
in the army and navy, the inhabitants of municipal
towns, poor people in rural and other parishes
clubbing together their pence through their clergy-
man or some benevolent lady, and, above all,
by persons of modest means who probably had been
at first deterred from contributing with the
wealthier classes,

THE RIPON STEAMER.

SOUTHAMPTON, 'WEDNESDAY.

A trial has been made to-day of the engines of
the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamship
Ripon, in the presence of Mr. J. Dinnan, Admiralty
Engineer Inspector, Messrs. Ritchie, A. Lamb, and
Lovell, of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's
staff, Mr. John R. Ravenhill, of the firm of Raven-
hill and Salkeld, the makers, and subsequently the
improvers of the Ripon's engines, and other gentle-
men. This trial was rendered somewhat remarkable
by some very interesting and valuable experiments
made with the surface-condensers which, during the
recent overhaul and refit of the ship, were added to
the engines. These condensers consist of about
27,000 feet of tubing (more than half a mile), in six
feet lengths, of a total exterior area of about 4,800
square feet, around and among which a constant
stream of cold sea water is circulated by means of
two powerful centrifugal pumps (Appold's patent),
the exhaust-steam passing through them, and being,
by contact with the cold metal, immediately con-
densed, the vacuum thus obtained ranging from 27
to 29 inches. At the conclusion of the Admiralty
trial on the 26th ult. a slight accident happened to
the apparatus for working one of the centrifugal
circulating pumps, whereby the pump was rendered
temporarily useless, and a plan (which was some
time since applied by Mr. A. Lamb, the superin-
tending engineer of the company), was then tried
of disconnecting both pumps, and allowing the sea
water to pass through the condenser with only such
impetus as was given to it by the ship's way, the
condenser being thus rendered self-acting. The re-
sult then obtained was so satisfactory that, it being
necessary for the Government inspector to see the
engines working with the pump•gear repaired,
another trial was made to-day, and the plan in
question again adopted, with equally satisfactory
results. The mean speed obtained, with 51b. of
steam and 20 inches vacuum, was 6.542, with and
against tide ; revolutions, 111 : consumption of
coal about Bcwt. per hour• The Ripon, it may be
mentioned, is of 1,908 tons and 450-horse power.
It has thus been proved satisfactorily that in the
event of future accident to the pump-gear a good
result can be obtained by this self-acting circula-
tion, which, by the addition of a lip-plate on the
exterior of the ship, may, it is thought, be mate-
rially improved. A circulation may also be obtained,
if required, by means of the donkey pump, or by
both it and the self-acting circulation combined.
After the completion of the experiments the steam
was raised to its usual pressure of 201 b., and the.
Ripon returned to Southampton at a high rate of
speed. She will sail hence on the 20th inst. with
the Calcutta, China, and Australian mails.