The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-20 00:00:00

Naval and. Military Intelligence.

Major-Gen. Warde, C. 8., commandant at Wool-
wich, yesterday commenced his half-yearly visita-
tion of the district under his command, and which
has this year been extended to the garrison of
Maidstone. The General, accompanied by his aide-
de-camp, Capt. Williams, Capt. Nangle, Deputy-
Assist. Quartermaster-Gen. ; Major Hay, Brigade
Major, and other officers, commenced his inspection
at Purfleet of the detachment and quarters of the
Coast Brigade, R.A., in command of Capt. Ander-
son. He afterwards proceeded to Brentwood, where
it was his intention to pass the night, and make an
early inspection this morning of the troops and
quarters of the 3d division depot brigade Royal
Artillery, five hundred, in number, stationed at
Warley, in command of Col. Hay. He will then re-
turn to head-quarters, Woolwich, and will continue
his inspection of the brigades and corps throughout
the garrison, concluding with an inspection of the
depot Royal Horse Artillery, in command of Col.
Turner, C. 8., and the detachment of the Guards,
about 200 strong, at Maidstone.

The sailing merchant vessel Louisa, 1,000 tons,
Commander H. Scowcroft, belonging to Messrs.
Duncan and Co., of East India-avenue, London,
arrived at Spithead yesterday with invalided and
time-expired soldiers on board, consisting of 118 ,
men from various regiments, accompanied by Lieut.
Kelsey, 72d Highlanders, in military command ;
Cornet Donnithorne, 17th Lancers, and Surgeon
Pring in medical charge. The Louisa sailed from
Bombay on the 23d of May.
Au attempt to undock her Majesty's ironclad fri-
gate Bellerophon, 16, 1,000 horse-power, on being
made at Chatham dockyard on Monday failed, in
consequence of the tide not rising sufficiently high!
to allow her to be floated over the blocks. Another
attempt was made yesterdayafternoon, which proved
successful, and the vessel was floated into the har-
bour. Her draught of water, when fairly afloat, was
22ft Gin aft and 16ft forward, her keel being about
18in from the top of the blocks. She was berthed
alongside the floating sheer-hulk at the dockyard in
the course of the afternoon, and at once proceeded
to get up steam in her fore boilers, for the purpose
of testing her engines, which have not been set in
motion since fitted on board. She will receive about
100 tons of Welsh coals in her bunkers to-day pre-
paratory to being taken on an official trial of her
speed at the measured mile.
The screw gun vessel Plover, 5, 80 horse-power,
recently sold out of service, was yesterday taken
into No. 4 dock at Chatham, for the purpose of hav-
ing the copper removed from her bottom, and her
hull payed over previously to being handed over to
the Liverpool firm which has purchased her from
the Admiralty. The price for which the Plover
was purchased was £2,600, or at the rate of about
£6 2s. per ton, being one-fourth the price actually
paid for her a few years since by the Admiralty to
the private firm by which she was built. In addition
her engines and machinery cost nearly £4,000. The
Plover has been only once in commission.
Her Majesty's iron paddle-wheel vessel Oberon,
ilo
nchoiwih,
argeeof Mr. Robb, chief engineer, was yester-
day hauled under the shears in the inner basin, at
Woolwich,
to behoprarepared for commission.
tons, and 0
linaie2BBtYls 6-gun paddle sloop Spiteful, 1,054
fopower,l7ooNVhaysichyesterdayr
dt,a
ak
ne nd
ed receiving into the inner
basin n
readiness for sea.
seohneniseenxcpeetreedcetio stores i
hoist
her pennant in a few days.
The 3-gun paddle-wheel sloop Alecto, 800 tons'
burden, recently paid off at Woolwich by Com-
mander Blake, from the south-east coast of America,
was was taken into the river yesterday to be broken up,
condemned and stripped as unfit
fhuarvtihnegr
to her outer hull, now lies off the dockyard at Wool-
wich,The ironbe paddle
en
service.
sloop Trident having been stripped
in readiness to be sold by publicau ctiodisn.poHseeer
engines and a portion of her fittings will be
of separately.
The iron frigate Valiant returned into Portsmouth
harbour yesterday morning on the conclusion of her
trials of speed at the measured mile in Stakes Bay,
and of her capstans, anchors, and cables at Spithead.
The Arethusa, 35, screw frigate, Capt. R. J. J. G.
Macdonald, sailed from Spithead for the Channel.
The Octavio, 35, screw frigate, Capt. Hillyar,

steamed out of Portsmouth harbour yesterday on
the completion of her outfit for foreign service, and
anchored at Spithead to take in her powder and
shell previous to sailing westward.
The presentation of the Victoria Crosses to Mr.
Boys, midshipman, and two seamen of H.M.S. ship
Euryalus on Southsea Common, Portsmouth, is
appointed to take place on Friday next. The pre-
sent arrangements are that a marine force only will
be paraded for the occasion. The force will form
in review order on the common about 2 p.m., and
will consist of a battery of six field guns, manned
by seamen ; two battalions of seamen ; one batta-
lion of Royal Marine Artillery, and one battalion
Royal Marine Light Infantry. Her Majesty's ship
Victory, the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief at
Portsmouth, will fire a Royal salute at the moment
of the presentation of the Crosses by Admiral Sir
Michael Seymour, G-.C.8., the representative of the
Queen on this occasion.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND GREAT WESTERN.

The report of the directors states that the receipts
from the railway and canal amounted during the
past half-year to £110,828, and the disbursements
to £88,169, leaving a balance of £22,659, which,
with £4,415, the surplus from the preceding half-
year, made a disposable balance of £27,074. Out
of this the directors recommended a dividend at the
rate of £2 ss. per cent. per annum, leaving a balance
of £2,806 to the credit of the next account. The
receipts on the extension from Athlone to Galway
showed a deficiency of £9,328 on the working of
the traffic for the past half-year, including as usual
the interest on the Government loan. The extraor-
dinary expenditure in the renewal of the permanent
way and bridges was now drawing to a close, and
the directors, as advised by their engineer, had
every confidence that the current half-year would
see the termination of this heavy outlay, which
would place the railway in first-rate condition, and
thenceforth only the ordinary expense' of mainte-
nance would be required. The sum expended
during the half-year on the repairs and maintenance
of the permanent way and stations had amounted
to £27,433. The directors felt that they would
not be justified in placing the whole of this amount
against the revenue of the past half-year, as it would
take away the dividend ; but they recommended
that an ample sum to cover ordinary maintenance
and repairs (£14,502) should be placed against re-
venue, and that the remainder (£12,931) be divided
into four equal parts, one-fourth (13,233) to be
charged to the past half-year ending June 30th, and
the remainder (£9,968) be distributed over the next
three years, and be paid off in equal half-yearly in-
stalments of £1,616. In respect of the item of £6,363
compensation for losses and accident, the directors
had resolved to charge £5,265 to the reserve ac-
count, which would then be exhausted, leaving the
remainder, £1,097, chargeable against revenue ac-
count.. The sum of £16,073 had been expended on
capital account during the half-year. The traffic re-
ceipts for passengers, goods, and cattle had increased
largely since the commencement of the current half-
year, being for the first ten weeks £5,628 in excess
of the receipts for the same period of 1864, and
which gave the directors reason to hope for a more
encouraging future.