The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-15 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

e
A divisional field-day took place yesterday at
K.G.B. The
Aldershott. The troops were formed on Hungry-
hill at a.m. The manoeuvres were unusually com-
furnished
the part of
ri
pLlieexu,t
.a.nGde
ne x. exhibited. glir.e apt ingenuity
r
troops deserved great credit for their steady and
well executed movements. They returned to Camp
at one neo'clock. The Artilleryas
eo nn y were,
ammunition on n
theoe

The following is the present distribution of the
companies of the Royal Engineers :-Ist company,
Plymouth ; 2d, Aldershott ; 3d, 27th, and 33d,
Malta ; 4th, 15th, and 18th, Canada ; sth and 34th,
Burmuda ; 6tb, New Zealand; 7th, Halifax, Nova
a Scotiad 21;s
tB,
Mauritius;
t h and 10t hh and
2
, 12t China; 9th, Woolwich ; 11th
n 5 t
Cape of Good
Hope ; 20th, Australia ; 23d, Shorneliffe ; 24th,
28th, and 31st, Malta ; 29th and 30th, Corfu ; and
the 32d at St. Helena. The companies at head-
quarters, Chatham, are the 17th, 22d, 26th, 35th,
37th, and 38th, in addition to which the 13th, 14th,
16th, and 19th companies are engaged in the tri-
gonometrical survey of Great Britain. The follow-
ing companies will shortly arrive in England on
the completion of their period of foreign service-
tne 7th, from-Halifax ; the Bth andjOtli, from
China; the 11th, from Mauritius ; the 20th, from
Western Australia ; the 24th and 28th, from Malta;
and the 25th, from the Cape. Me 22d Company,
at Chatham, is the next on the rota to proceed on
foreign service.

The improvements recently effected in, the system
of instruction pursued at the Royal Engineer Esta-
lishment, Chatham, as well as the increase made in
the number of subjects connected with the theory
and practice of military engineering which the offi-
cers and men of the Royal. Engineers have to acquire
before they have completed their curriculum of in-
struction, have necessitated a considerable augmenta-

tion in the staff of instructors and assistant instruc-
tors
in the different schools and departments of the
establishment at headquarters, as the number of
instructors hitherto employed has been found alto-
gether insufficient for the present requirements of the
establishment. The Duke of Cambridge has ac-
cordingly sanctioned the appointment of six addi-
tional instructors, raising the total number at head-
quarters to 14, who will be distributed as follows—
viz., five fieldwork instructors, two surveying and
levelling instructors, one photographic instructor,
one telegraphic instructor, one topographical in-
structor, one lithographic instructor, and one labo-
ratory instructotr„ Previously to the employment
of permanent instructors the officers and men were
put through a course ofinfitruction in a body, under
the superinthndence of the nor-commissioned offi-
cers of the company to which they were attached,
but under the new arrangement the Royal Engi-
neers will go through the course of fieldwork in-
struction according to classes, each class being
under the superintendence of an instructor, while
each officer and man will have to pass an exami-
nation by Lieut.-Col. Lovell, C. 8., the chief field-
work instructor, before he will be dismissed from
the ficldworks to join the other classes.
The Lords of the Admiralty have sanctioned an
exchange of divisions between Lieut.-Colonel C. 0.
Hawley, of the Portsmouth Division, and Lieut.-
Col. W. S. Aslett, of the Plymouth Division.
The corps of Royal Marines being below its re-
quired strength the following officers have been
detached from the head-quarters of several divi-
sions, and are employed in superintending the re-
cruiting at the stations named :—Lieut.-Col. J. C.
D. Morrison, Chelmsford ; Lieut.-Col. R. Parke,
Bath; Major N. Moore, Hull; Major A. A. Dou-
glas, Bedford; Major E. L. Pym, Derby; Major
S. B.
ch PersYtenrn ; e'
CaptainLaunceston C L ;
o Captain
, London ; Captain
H. H. Goold, Northampton ; Captain R. S. Harri-
son, Salisbury ; Captain c4.uLp.taßin F. E. Budd,
MBlake,
Wolver-
hampton ; Captain H. G. J. Davies, Liverpool ;
Captain E. C. Domvill, Exeter ; Captain S. R.
Lille, Taunton ; Captain H. F. Fox, Ludlow ; and
Captain R. Farmar, Monmouth. The proper
strength of the corps is 18,000 of all ranks.
Lieut.-Col. Scovell and the officers and men of
the 96th Regiment, who left Queenstown for Ca-
nada in the hired transport Victoria, which put back
to Plymouth on Tuesday, were landed from her on
Thursday. The head quarters and three companies
are now in Milbay-barracks : the other two com-
panies are in the Raglan, at Devonport.

RAILWAY AND PUBLIC COMPANIES IN PARMA-
MENT.—Yesterday the committee of the House of Com-
mons sitting to consider the competing schemes for a rail-
to passedp ur billptohsee,
with
iothf the
which Te-
nt
the abeneotmgmivoindagtitohnemof an
an
extensive
haegcrai
ernupl
tu atr a
and ignoring the bill of the
Eastern Counties Railway Conapany,
were and considered in the
mdrainygblelmunendtrieodmidta,iwlwaasyassfoo.rciathteadt
extension of time for the completion a their line to Ongar.
ldistrict,Colchester
Clauses connected with the interests of the South-Eastern
Railway Companysubmitted
) Chatham, and Dover
Londontahne Andover and Great
d on the Barnsley
Company's Extensions, were engaged in
ew
.Rco
oameai
allmreiar
nt
Railwayyt e. e
goTnrahat
The committees
e b
oi 1
fl o f
rail a theil,
vaways,
sn
taking important evidence through.out the day
until the
1 Speaker was at prayers.

An experiment of a very interesting character to
volunteers was yesterday made at the range of the
St. George's Rifles, at Wormwood Scrubs, and a
number of gentlemen of rank and position connected
with volunteer regiments were present—among
them, Lord Elam, M.P., W. Wells, Eiq., Mr.
Evans, A. L 1 ; Col. Weed, Paddington Rifles ; Capt.
Fenton, West Middlesex ;
Major Ives, St. George's ;
Captain Pugh and Lieutenant litimphreN-s. The
Metropolitan Rifle Range Company having adopted
the targets of Messrs. S. C. Hemmings and Co., who
have bought the patent of M. Chevalier, com-
menced a trial of an electric target, at half-past
one o'clock in the afternoon. The principle of
the patent is as follows :—The target is divided
into ten portions—bull's-eye, centre, left, right,
upper, lower, upper left, upper right, lower left,
and lower right. As a shot strikes any one of
these divisions a ball at the back is driven away
with some force, and by its percussion completes
the electric circuit, the needle on the indicator at
the firing point making a notation corresponding to
the impingement of the shot. Twenty- eight shots
were fired, at the 150 yards range, and all of these
were exactly indicated with one exception, the
failure of which was owing to a break in one of the
wires, which were all much too small to stand their
work. Removing to 400 yards, other 28 shots were
fired, and all the hits out of this number were ex-
actly recorded on the indicator. Considering the
disadvantages under which the trial was conducted
the experiment must be regarded as eminently suc-
cessful. Doubtless when the target is properly and
permanently fixed, and the indicator is not liable
to accident and disturbance by being shifted from
place to place in a truck, the invention will show
up better than it has done. As it is, however, we
have seen. enough to convince us that in the inven-
tion there are the germs of a complete revolution
in the system of marking. Ere long we shall be
able to get rid of the expense now incurred by pay-
ing a staff of markers, since the wages of a marker
for one year would buy a machine, which will last
for many years. More than this, by a different
arrangement of the sections or divisions of the tar-
get the marking will come to be more exact, and
this is a desideratum which the council of the
National Rifle Association will do much to bring
about, if, as appears probable, they will at the next
Wimbledon meeting adopt a new arrangement in
marking for the all-comers prizes. We must con-
gratulate Mr. Hemming and the managers of the
Metropolitan Rifle-range Company upon yesterday's
success, which, although but qualified, affords a
guarantee for the ultimate triumph of the principle.
We trust that a " fixed" trial may soon be made,
when we shall be glad to chronicle the results, and
all the more readily if, as we expect, they should
turn out to place the success of electric targets as
opposed to individual marking beyond a question.
It is clear that, when once arranged, wires can have
no favourites, and they do not become sleepy or
lazy, as volunteer experience shows that markers
have an unpleasant habit of doing now and then.