The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-15 00:00:00

SHREWSBURY AND CHESTER.

The adjourned meeting of this company was held yes-
terday for the purpose of receiving the report of the
scrutineers on the amendment proposed by Sir W.
Johnston, against an amalgamation with the Great
Western Company, Mr. J. Williams in the chair.
Mr. KENNEDY, the scrutineer, on behalf of the sup-
porters of the amendment, read the following docu-
ment :
(g Report made by Mr. H. Kennedy, barrister-at-law,
one of the scrutineers appointed by the meeting of share-
holders of the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway Com-
pany, held at Chester, on Tuesday, the 13th of Septem-
ber, 1853, upon the votes tendered by both parties,
upon an amendment by Sir William Johnston to the
notion from the chair! Not concurring with par col,

The following announcement of the arrival of
the Channel fleet in Bantry Bay, appears in the
Cork Reporter of Tuesday :
" BEREHAVEN, SEPT. 11.—I beg to inform you, that
on Friday evening Admiral Martin, in her Majesty's
ship Duke of Wellington, and the squadron under his
cmimand, anchored in this harbour ; and on Saturday
evening Admiral Corry, with the ships under his com-
mand, made their appearance in Bantry Bay, south of
Berehaven, and were shortly after anchored in this fine
harbour. Yesterday the Duke of Wellington and
several other ships were visited by many of the respect-
.al.de inhabitant# of Berehaven and the surrounding
country, who were received with that politeness and
attention so truly characteristic of the royal navy. On
this day full and free liberty was given for all persons to
visit the ships."

Another correspondent of the same journal, after
mentioning the arrival of Admiral Martin's squad-
ron, says :—" Some of the natives, thinking they
were the French or Russians, ran to the moun-
tains. Their astonishment was further increased
by the arrival, on the 10th, of Admiral Corry's
squadron. They are to leave on Tuesday for
Queenstown."
The Cork Reporter contains the following re-
marks in connection with the arrival of the fleet :
"It is possible that they will anchor this evening in
our harbour, where, it is understood, they will be in-
spected, in the course of the week, by the First Lord
of the Admiralty, Sir James Graham. The presence
of this splendid marine armament, especially if the
present fine weather shall continue, will be a great
boon to our sight-seers, who, of course, will flock to the
harbour to witness so grand an ornament to its waters.
Queenstown, indeed, will be a stirring place during its
stay there. But the arrival of the fleet has interest for
others besides sight-seers, and we trust that the First
Lord of the Admiralty will not see it anchored in our
noble port, without being impressed with the strong ne-
cessity for making that port, in all respects, a fitting
rendezvous for such majestic craft. Nature has done all
that she could to make the task a light one. And art
has not been idle. To the anchorage, unrivalled in
safety and capacity in the British islands, and capable of
being entered or left, in all circumstances of time and
tide, which the former fashioned with her creative hand,
not a little has been added by the toil of man. At
Haulbowline already is to be found the nucleus of a
naval establishment. Extensive stores, water tanks, and
other accommodation have been provided there, at no
small outlay, by the State. Free trade has changed the
little sea-bathing village at Cove into a stirring and ra-
pidly improving town. And that town, ere a month,
will be within five minutes' communication of the Ad-
miralty-office, at Whitehall. Will not Sir James Graham,
observing these things, feel that the time is come, at
length, when to make Queenstown a naval station hss
become an imperial, nay, an English, question t We
think he must. Things will no longer be as they were
in the old days of postal intercourse, or even as they are
while we write. And, when the magic wires shall have
been completed to Queenstown, in less time than a
dispatch from London can now reach that town, the
ship ordered, by a like dispatch, to proceed seaward
thence would have accomplished 150 miles of her voyage.
Dockyards and factories at Haulbowline have ceased to
come under the category of Justice to Ireland.' Se-
curity to the Empire' is what they mean to-day. The
importance of Cork harbour during a war for the em-
barkation of troops has been at all times acknowledged,
and, with existing facilities of railway communication,
its advantages in this particular are greatly enhanced.
Again, as a point whence British commerce might be
watched and protected, its position, always admirable, is
greatly improved, such has been the increase of traffic
between these islands and North America, the entire of
which traffic may be said to pass within gunshot of our
roadstead. Moreover, a vast proportion of the trade of
England may be regarded as now permanently diverted
from its old destination to Queenstown, owing to the
unique situation of that town as a port for orders.
Every consideration, therefore, renders the establish-
ment of a permanent naval depot in our harbour matter
of more and more urgency, and the neglect of it more
culpable and short-sighted. At the present moment, too,
a great opportunity exists for setting about the forma-
tion of such works as are needed to put Cork harbour
in the necessary condition to accommodate and supply
the wants of ships of war. The empire has undertaken
henceforward to make its criminal population of some
utility at home, instead of pouring it out, as a noxi-
ous element, into its colonial dependencies. Amongst
the labours on which the enemies of society may be
most fittingly engaged are those which have for their
object social protection. And the convicts, who must
henceforth have employment found for them by the State,
might be most wisely occupied with the ruder and more
laborious part of those operations necessary for the im-
provement of our port. Thus what is requisite to be
done was never so requisite, nor was there at any time
so great facility for setting about it.
"The public beards of Cork, and the inhabitants of
Cork and Queenstown, we are glad to perceive, are
anxious to compliment the Admiralty authorities and the
principal officers of the fleet, on their arrival here. This
is as it should be ; and, though we do not expect much
practical good to result from a fete of any sort, it is
naturally calculated to produce a kindly feeling between
guests and hosts. But we should be glad that every
advantage was taken of the present opportunity to call
'the attention of Sir James Graham and the other official
personages to the many excellencies of the port, and to
the strong reasons which recommend its selection as a
western station for some portion of her Majesty's marine.
The presence of the fleet on its waters will sufficiently
indicate the unrivalled accommodation it is able to
afford, and when, in addition, it is shown how much has
been already expended to improve its advantages, al,
how useless that expenditure has been, because o
stopping short in the middle of the work, we have every
confidence that the result must be to lead speedily to
the completion of what was wisely begun
and impru.
diontly puhpended.'

Several papers on local subjects are to be printed
in full in the Transactions of the Association. The
report states that the members of the British As-
sociation have learnt with satisfaction that it is the
intention of Government to direct that, in future,
daily meteorological observations shall be made at
sea, in correspondence with the plan adopted by
the Government of the United States, on the sug-
gestion of Lieutenant Maury, and to take such
further steps, in reference to the mercantile marine
of Great Britain as may be best suited to stimulate
and encourage the masters of British merchant
ships to take interest in investigations by which the
times of passage between different parts have
already, in many instances, been materially shor-
tened, and which may lead to other results of
the greatest importance to practical navigation.
The British Association entirely concurs in the
opinion that to make the observations thus con-
templated serviceable for the purposes for which they
are designed, it will be necessary to make provi-
sion for their co-ordination, and for deriving from
them the instruction which they may be capable of
yielding, primarily for the advantage of navigation,
and secondarily for the benefit of science. In this
view the general committee requests that the
council will communicate on the subject with the
parliamentary committee, and will take such steps
either by deputation to Government or otherwise
as may appear to them desirable. As the greatest
annoyance is frequently occasioned by the injury or
destruction of instruments and specimens arriving
from foreign parts, arising from careless repacking
at the Custom-house—some striking examples of
which have frequently come to light—the council
are to consider of the best mode of representing
this to the Government.

In the mechanical section, Mr. Thomson, C.E.,
of Belfast, read a communication on an experi-
mental apparatus constructed to determine the
efficiency of the jet-pump, giving a series of the re-
sults obtained.

The Rev. C. G. NICOLAY discoursed on Tuesday
in the geographical and Ethnological Section upon
the importance of certain places in the Pacific with
reference to great circle routes across the ocean.
The general want of appreciation of great circle
ruling is evidenced by the routes selected by steam-
packet companies both to the east and to the west.
This has arisen from the habitual disc of Mercator's
projection. To facilitate the consideration of the
subject a stereographic chart of the Pacific, show-
ing the linear concentricity of its shores, has been
constructed ; great circles have been laid down on
a Mercator's chart between many of the most im-
portant places in the world, and tables of distances
have been completely calculated. From these the
distances involved in the Pacific route to Aus-
tralia, via the Isthmus of Panama, appear to be
from Land's-end to Panama, 4,369 geographical
miles ; from Panama to Sydney, 7,680 miles ; making
altogether 12,049 miles. But from the Land's-end
to Hobart-town, via the Cape of Good Hope, is
on 11,200 miles 849 miles shorter. The facilities
afforded on the route from Panama are, however,
great. The Galapagos Islands, where the existence
of coal is reported, afford a refuge from the horri-
ble climate of the isthmus, and they offer every
advantage for a depot. The company formed for
the purpose of effecting communication by this
route proposes Tahiti as the intermediate depot, but
Tahiti lies far out of the shortest tract, and is dan-
gerous of access from the east. Easter Island lies
nearest the direct line, and, if its harbour be suffi-
cient, is well suited in other respects. The Sand-
wich Islands present themselves as the most im-
portant insular position in the North Pacific. They
are distant respectively from Vancouver's Island,
2,293 miles ; St. Francisco, 2,083 ; Central Ame-
rica, 4,023; Callao, 5,060; Valparaiso, 5,905; Ja-
pan, 3,853 ; Chusan, 4,301 ; Singapore, 5,832 ;
Sidney, 4,500 ; Auckland, 3,817. The conclusions
come to by Mr. Nicolay are, that what is now called
the overland route to China ought to be the most
rapid, until one is opened across North America.
That by the Cape has the next preference, while
the advantages of that by Panama are almost ex-
clusively confined to the Southern States of the
Union and the West Indies ; and, with respect to
them, it will be superseded by the overland route.
British
North-west considers
situated America Mr. Nicolay
more favourably than any
the coast in the Pacific for commanding the trade
of that ocean, and the establishment of rapid com-
munication with it and the development of its
olahYer
p of
resources are therefore objects of the first im-
portance.
V. Plante, descriptive
prepared by Mr. R.l_.
...
Papers were read in this section yesterday (Wed-
nesday),by Dr. RG
rn Africa ; R. G.
country in South-easte
of a journey to St. Lucia Bay,. and the adjacent
Latham, on certain localities, not in Sweden, oc-
cupied by Swedish populations, and on certain o G
• 0 thla d ,
ethnological questions connected with the coasts f
Livonia, Esthonia, Courland,. and by
the Rev. T. Rankin, on the Brigantes, the Romans,
and the Saxons on the Yorkshire Wolds ; and by
Don M. B. la Fuente, observations on the province
of Tarapaca, South Peru.
In section A, a general view of an Oscillatory
Theory of Light has been given by Mr. W. J.
11facquorn Rankine, C.E.
The business of the sections were concluded yes-
terday (Wednesday).

EDITORIAL FIGHTING 'Joußs.—The editor of the
Elmira _Republican notifies to his subscribers and others
that his " fighting hours are between 10 and 12 a.m•,
when he will be happy to see any ore who went? *l37'
Wig..--dmmiccrin, paper.