The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-24 00:00:00

SHIPBUILDING ON THE MERSEY.

On Saturday there were a number of ships
launched from the Liverpool and Birkenhead sides
of the Mersey—Mr. John L3ird's yard turning out
a splendid government troopship called the Orontes,
and Messrs. Jones, Queggin and Co.'s yard two
very fine vessels for merchant service. Besides
these launches, we may mention that a gunboat—
one of the craft about which so much speculation
relative to destination has been indulged in—toge-
ther with some keels of a less noticeable character,
left the stocks, and kept the building yards in com-
motion. The Birkenhead ironworks presents a busy
scene. There are from 2,800 to 3,000 hands in daily
employment; and between 16,000 and 17,000 tons
of shipping, warlike and commercial, and machinery
of about 1,500 horse power, in course of construc-
tion on the premises. Amongst the most prominent
undertakings is the iron-cased screw frigate Agin-
court, which is intended for the royal navy. The
Agincourt has so far progressed that the frames are
all up and nearly plated to the armour-shelf, with
the exception of the extreme ends of the vessel,
which are kept back until the stem and stern posts
are set up. The forging of these immense pieces of
iron is progressing satisfactorily at Messrs. Hors-
fall's Mersey forge, where the armour plates of the
Agincourt are also being constructed, and these
plates are to be nearly Sin. thick, but they will
taper off to 22in. at the extreme ends of the ship,
which enables the builders to give a sharp model for
speed, and it is hoped a ship that will not pitch in the
same manner as the Warrior does. In another part
of the yard the twe iron-plated rams, about which
so many extraordinary rumours have been afloat,
are rapidly getting into form, and to nautical men
a very uncommon form it appears to be. With re-
gard to the Orontes, she is one of the improved class
of troopships, of which the Government are build-
ing several, something after the style of the cele•
brated Hiumlaya, but from 25 to 30 feet shorter
than that vessel ; her dimensions being :—Length,
300 ft. ; beam, 44ft. 4in. ; depth of hold, 23ft. 6in. ;
measurement (old), 2,011 tons. The engines, some
parts of which are already on board, will be of 500
horse-power, manufactured by Messrs. James Watt
and Co,, of Birmingham. They are calculated to
drive the ship at a high rate of speed, and the sail-
ing capacity of the Orontes will be that of a barque

full rigged in proportion to her tonnage. From the
foremast to the bow the deck is covered in, and
forms the forecastle, on which the crew of the ship
will be quartered. From the foremast aft the deck
is quite flush. The 'tween decks on which troops
will be accommodated, are fully 8 feet high in the
clear, with square side ports, large deck skylights,
and every provision for thorough ventilation, so im-
portant a requisite for the successful performance of
transport service. The Orontes is calculated for the
conveyance of 1,200 troops and 70 officers to any part
of the world. She will carry two pivot guns for
defensive purposes, but must not at all be considered
as a fighting ship. It is expected that she will be
completed and fit for service by the middle of Feb-
ruary.

INSECURITY OF LIFE AND PROPERTY
IN THE METROPOLIS.

On Saturday, at the sitting of the Marylebone
Representative Council, held at the Court-house,
Mr. P. Matthews, churchwarden, in the chair, Mr.
W. E. Greenwell, the vestry clerk, read a commu-
nication from the vestry of Paddington, together
with the copy of a memorial that body had adopted
to the Home Secretary upon the subject of the alarm
in the public mind, arising from the numerous
street robbe►ies, with violence, which have recently
taken place in the metropolis, and soliciting the co-
operation of the authorities of Marylebone on the
subject.—Mr. Hodges said he felt it his duty to
move that the consideration of this memorial be
postponed, because, he said, if they agreed to it at
once, without mature deliberation, they might find
it made an excuse for saddling them with a very
large increase of the police. The police rate in
Marylebone already amounted to the enormous sum
of £26,000 per annum ; from £lB,OOO to £20,000 in
St. Pancras ; and from £14,000 to £15,000 in Pad-
dington ; and the sum total for the whole metropo-
lis was somewhere about £200,000. While, how-
ever, opposed to any further increase in the police-
rate, he quite agreed that it was highly necessary
the efficiency of the police should be increased. Mr.
Grange supported the immediate adoption of such
a memorial. To the disgrace of the metropolis and
the whole country, they had arrived at such a state
of things that there was danger in going into the
publie streets after dark, of losing not only their
property but their lives by the garotters. Mr.
Abrahams said he was prepared to contend that, if
the large bodies of police occupied at the public
places of amusement were withdrawn and occupied
in their legitimate duty, for which the public paid,
and that if the commissionaires were sworn in as
constables and appointed in their places, the public
would be able to receive ample protection. Mr.
Freeth considered the parish of Paddington had
done themselves great honour in originating this
movement, and he thought it was incu nbent on
that board, as a body elected by the ratepayers, to
support it as being a step for the protection of their
own lives and property, as well as of those they
represented. Some steps ought to be taken by the
Government to stop the fearful outrages that were
going on night after night in the metropolis. The
other day a lady in St. John's-wood had occasion to
send her servant for the police, and it took two
hours and a half to find one, and•then she had to go
to a police-station some distance off. It then tran-
spired there were no policemen on day duty in St.
John's-wood district. The consequence was, so bad
was the state of things, that people there were
much exposed to danger of being garotted in broad
daylight as well as at night. A very daring at-
tempt was made upon himse f (Mr. Freeth), as he
was actually leaving a cab to enter his own house
as early as six o'clock a few evenings ago. The fact
was that the metropolis was infested with returned
ticket-of-leave men, robbers, and garotters, and
none more so Lhan St. John's-wood, and similarly
situated outskirt districts. He had recently tra-
velled through some of the principal capitals of
Europe, and could safely say that in no capital was
there less protection, or so little care for life and pro-
perty, as in London. Sir Richard Mayne had sig-
nally failed to do his duty in this respect, and he
therefore considered, as representing one of the
largest and heaviest taxed districts for police, they
were in duty bound to go to the Home Secretary
and demand proper protection from the returned
convict, the garotter, and the assassin. Mr. Overton
said several applications bad been made to Govern-
ment for police returns as to the number of men
employed, but they refused to furnish them. Ulti-
mately the memorial was adopted unanimously,
and signed by the chairman on behalf of the board.

Another assassination has just taken place at
Warsaw on the person of a Jow attached to the secret
police. He was found hanged at his own residence, and
shamefully mutilated.

EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE ON THE RAILWAY,—
Shortly after noon on Thursday, when the third-class
Liverpool train arriving at Birmingbam at 1.30 p.m. was
about three-quarters of a mile from the Edgbaston station,
and was proceeding at the rate of about 20 miles an hour,
the engine-driver saw a man get on the line about 50 yards
in front of the train, and deliberately lay his head on one of
the rails. The driver at once put on his break and shouted
to the guard to do the same, but the train could not be
stopped until both the engine and all the carriages had
passed over tne unfortunate man. As soon as the
train could be stopped the guard jumped down
from the van and found the man lying with
his body between the rails, and v ith the head,
which had been laid on the left-hand rail, literally
crushed to atoms. The brains and portions of the skull
were scattered about the line and on the engine. Al-
though all the train had passed over it, the body, which lay
between the rails, showed no marks ofinWjuhreyr.eli The guard
called some platelayers to his assistance, and placing the
plc
body and such fragments of the head as they could
now lie
se
up,
rltihes
waitingbor e
wi the toar
nea public
hniqsu painfulo
st . houseu Under
oca
rut
arrbridgeeu Springhill,ce
crossings
took
place, were found
spot
parsons." This
an overcoat, a walking-stick, a pair of gloves,
coaiOJ. Pn
of the deceased,
and a hat.
ilVtrhi tot
oennliynsoildueo tfhoeunhdat
twoatshteh ei
identification
f t
who was respectably dressed, at the time of writing. About
half an hour before the train Caine up the foreman of some
some distance below, saw
th
walkingonl natli'
platelayers at work on the line,
line
' and
up warned
theend d ewalkedcease ca
to
thewah
seen
wallk ie,
side, where he stood for a short
time, and just before the train came
hre wasd him o
ing towards the liao,