The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-24 00:00:00

VESSELS SPOKEN WITH.

The Bernicia, from Calcutta to London, Feb. 22, lat. 1.6
S., long. 5 W.
The Wizard, March 5, lat. 2 N., long. 1. W.
The Travancore and Cecilia, from London to Launceston
Van Diemen's Land, both same day.
The Affiance, from Colombo to London, March 6, lat. 2
N., long. 2 t W.

The Vallisneria, from the Cape of Good Hope to London
April 5, lat 48 N.
The Chimeira, from Batavia to Aliddlesburg, March 11,
lat. 1, N.., long. 20 W.
The Bristol Packet, brig, from Philadelphia to London,
April 6, lat. 44 N., long. 28 W.
The Woodstock, barque, from Jamaica to London, same
day.
The Cornelia, of and from Glasgow to Philadelphia, Dec.
14, out 27 days,
The Johanna. from Cardiff to Hong Kong, Dec. 27, lat.
17 N., long. 25 W.
The Mississippi, from Cardiff to Bombay, Jan. 13, lat 32
S., long. 15 W.

The Chieftain, from Mauritius to London, Feb. 10, Ist
35 S., long. 21 E.

H.M. Elie:liner Volcano, steering E., March 10, off As-
cension.
The Eliza Goddard, bound S.E., March 29, lat. 38 N.,
ong. 36 W.

The M. de Embril, from Cardiff to Havannah, March
31, lat. 34 N., long. 36 W.
The Statesman, from Port Philip to London, AN ill 7,
lat. 45 N., long. 17 W.

The Janet Picksen, from Clyde to Melbourne, Feb. 3,
lat. 33 S., long 30 E.
The Bremen, for New York, April 15, lat. 7 W.
The Balmoral, from Liverpool to Sydney, N.S.W.,
Feb. 18, lat. 2 N., long. 23 W.

OSBORNE, ISLE OF WIGHT.—Her Majesty's estate at
Osborne, including the' farm and seat, is now nearly
2,000 acres in extent. Froth. Prince Albert and the
Queen take great interest in the farm. Of horned-cattle
the Prince still prefers the Scotch breed. A steam en-
gine is on the farm, which performs a variety of agricul-
tural operations.. Her /Ifajesty is about to establish a
heronry at Osborne. There are plenty of lofty trees
there, in the neighbourhood of ponds well stocked
with fish.

GIGANTIC BORING MACHINE.— We have ' frequently
had reason to call attention to the wonderful progress of
the mechanical arts in Glasgow, as evinced by the mag-
nificent character of the new tools which are every, now
and. then manufactured in the machine works of our
city. On no one occasion, however, have we been
mere impressed with the magnitude of the operations
carried on in our ship-building yards or steatmengitie
factories than when, on Saturday, we Were invited
to see a newly-finished boring machine, which has been
made at the Albion Works of Messrs. G-. and A. Harvey,
M'Ned-street. It is almost within the memory of
middle-aged men when thomost of the metal boring in
Scotland was wrought by hand-wrought drills, or by
small turning-lathes. The many purposes to which
iron is now applied, and the wonderful size to which all
parts of machines, especially steam-engines, have grown,
have put all such petty and primitive tools out of mind
as wtll as out of sight. A mere boring tool, now-a-days,
is a much laiger machine than many steam-engines were
notion ago, and the one which has led us to make theabove
remarks is larger than many steam-engines now in opera-
tion. This magnificent tool, which has been made for one
of Mr. Robert Napier's engine-shops, weighs no less
than 30 tons, and stands .25 feet high. The height of
the entablature of the frame is 15 feet, and the width is
no less than 14 feet. The framework 'of this grand' bor-
ing machine is composed of two upright columns, sur-
mounted by an elegant entablature, below which the
wheels which give power to the boring tool are
supported on a cross beam .of great size and
strength. This tool, 'which can work at all speeds,
from one revolution in 21 minutes, to 16 revolu-
tions in one minute, is capable of boring a hole in
solid iron of.lo inches, or a cylinder of 7 feet diameter,
and can take any feed from 1.40 th to Ith of an inch
per revolution of the spindle ; and it is capable of
boring a hole 7 feet 8 inches in length. These who are
curious to have an idea of what the manufacturers of
tools in Glasgow are capable' of producing would, we
have no doubt, be highly gratified by an inspection of
(his great machine. , We may mention,. in cone;usion,
that this tool is to be used for boring and facing mal-
leable iron cranks, cross-heads, connecting-rods, cylin-
d•n•s, air-pumps, &c., for marine engines.—G(gegow Poif,