The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-22 00:00:00

THURSDAY EVENING 9 M. An en
S. I
When paring one of the gates of thi, city, I en-
deavoured to enter, but was humeri iateiy repulsed by
persons stationed there for the purposE • of prevent-
ing strangers from entering under any .eircumstancs.
They were, however, vary civil; nor did 1, during
several da) a' stay. remark anything in :the demeanour
the people towards myself or my friends with
which e e could have reasonably felt offenied. Perhaps
they remember how often and how deterly they hid to
pay for the indulgence of their impertinent propensities
on former occasions, and are not unmindful of the ap-
proach of April, when it is just possible that they may
call down on themselves chastisement once more. While
pulling round the flower boats on the river, we were fre-
quently saluted with cries of " fanqui" (foreign devils),
and other complimentary phrases from the children, with
which we were not a little amused.
It would appear that there is no immediate prospect of
the abolition of the punishment of death in China, no
fewer than 146 individuals have had their heads cut off
at Canon alone since the Ist of this month.
We left the Hon. East India Company's steamer
Phlegethon anchored off ti.e Factories, and at Whampoa
(13 miles down the river) we left the Arab, Commander
Morris; and the United States men-of-war Plymouth,
22, Commodore Geisinger, and Preble, 16, Commander
Glynn. The Fury steam-sloop, Comman er
tows d the Arab up to Whampoa.
The Inflexible steam sloop, Commander Hoseason, ar-
rived from Singapore and Labuan oa the 25th; and on
the 26th the Medea steam sloop, Commander Mason, ar-
rived from the northern ports.
The Mariner, Commander Mathison, is still at
Shanghai.
Tha Scout, 16, Commander Johnstone, is refitting at
Foo Chow, preparatory to coming here en route for Bom-
bay, where she will undergo a thorough repair.
About the 10th of next month Mr. Benham, the
Governor of Burg-Kong, and General Staveley, com-
mander of the Forces, will embark in the Hastings, 72,
flag ship of his Excellency Sir Francis Collier, the
naval Commander-in-Chief, and accompany Sir Francis
up the Canton river, where the Hastings will anchor in
Anson's Bay, below the Fort of the Bocca Tigris. The
object of their visit is to communicate with the Chinese
authorities respecting the formalities to be observed at
the opening of the gates of Canton, and other matters
which have not yet transpired.
The Pilot, 16, Com. Lyons, and the Albatross, 16,
Com. Farquar, are daily expected hero to augment the
squadron.
The inflexible leaves here to-morrow for Cochin
China, in search of the Kelpie, a clipper, supposed to
have met with some veryserious disaster, in the ty-
phoon of October, as she has never since been heard of.
The Meander, 44, Captain the lion. lion. H. Keppel,
is at Singapore.
The Cambrian, 40, Commodore rlumridge, is at Bom-
bay, with the Childers, 16, Com. Pitman, and the Ring-
dove, 16, Corn. Miller.
MALTA, MARCH 12.—The news of the island is en-
tirely confined to incidents connected with the navy.
The French steam frigate Panama has quitted Malta
for Trieste and Venice, after having undergone a
thorough repair of the injuries received in her machinery.
The Locust went to the islands with the last mails,
under command of Lieutenant-Commander Glin, of the
Triton, and is expected to-morrow on her return.
The Indian mails may be expected here to-morrow,
or at the outside by the 14th, by the Ripon steamer,
from Alexandria.
The screw-steamer Osmanli arrived here from Con-
stantinople on the ith, and on the 9th proceeded on her
Lgneward route. News having reached the island that
her owiner had suspended payments in Liverpool, she was
arrested he; and not liberated till her captain had
given security for the debt owing. Fearing a similar
detention at Gibraltar, she will push through the straits
ssithuut touching.
The Sultan steamer arrived here yesterday, and is de-
tained in port in consequence of her inability to dis-
charge several 32-pounders she has on board, as it is
blowing a stiff gale. Some say the guns are for our
batteries, others for the Sicilians. The agent here pre-
serves a prudent silence.
The Ardent, Lieutenant-Commander Nowell, from
Trieste and Cor!ti, arrived on the 6th, and is coaled
ready to proceed to the fleet. After the loss of the
sAuleuetcine(ei
esali eiowoabstaeimmt:ilgoyed
the
bestin getting
bower
up her re
aedshesettos, and
anchors,
and half another snapped in two at the fluke, 90 fathoms
of hemp cable and 60 fathoms of chain, all the gun car-
riages, several stores, including rum, slops, &c.; but,
owing to the cold, the divers would not go down for the
guns. She has been sold for 6201. to a Mr. Barlow.
Her copper, 13 tons, alone sold for 1,5002; and, owing
anstoe thing was ad
emlaargoonmallewboyodbriemapkoit:tgedheinrtoop.Venice, a hand-
om

REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS OF
SHIPS ORIGINALLY MAL CONSTRUCTED.
The sums set down for " repent," ot ships in the re-
pert on the navy and dockyards are thus detailed in a
tract recently issued by the Liverpoc:l Reform Associa-
tion. The history of th- Vernon, g4hered from official
documents, seems to be the following:—
The Vernon was the earliest offspring in the official
career of Sir William Syrnoil.i. Her keel was laid at
Woolwich in October, 1831, and she was launch< d on
the Ist of May, 1832. ller tonnage was 2,082; her cost,
" fitted for sea," 48,4871. In one winter and spring, six
months only, the Vernon came into complete existence.
Other ships, such as the Trafagar, at Woolwich, begun
in 1829, being without their own constructors to protect
and foster them, were neglected, and all the favours of
the new builder and the new Admiralty lavished on their
own. The Trafelgar was not completed until 1841. A
number of other ships were similarly delayed. Thus
many thousands of pounds of the taxes of 1828, 1829,
and 1830 were expended, and lay a dead loss upon tho
timber stock twelve years. Yet such a disposal of the
taxes seems to have been more favovrable for the nation
than that disposal of 48,487/. which brought the Vernon
into existence.
It was seen by the evidence quoted at length in Sec-
tion 111., that the accounts of her " repairs " were de-
signedly misrepresented, to conceal her infirmities and
costliness ; yet, even according to those accounts, she
appears to have had, at a vt ry early age, an extraordi-
nary power of consuming taxes. From May, 1832, to
some time in 1833, she lay a helpless thing upon the
breast of the ocean, or in her watery cradle at Sheer-
ness, not yet a tax-eater; but in the next twelve months
her consumption became enormous, for a ship under two
years of age. Her " repairs" cost 3,0811. ; and in the
next twelve months—still lying at Sheerness, still unfit
to leave the nursery-hospital—this young " wooden
wall" of Old England swallowed up 2,111/. more for
" repairs."
In 1835 she was either moderate in her tax-eating
appetites, or the " falsification of accounts " made her
appear to be so, the cost for repairs was only 2731. In
1836 it was less, only 103/. In 1837, the fifth year of
her age, she made up for the moderation of the two pre-
vious years. Her " repairs" were set down at 9,036/. ;
and in in the next year she consumed 3,4231. more. In
1839 she moderated to 455/., rising to 7071. in 1840, but
decreasing to 1411. in 1841. In 1842 nothing is told of
her; while, in 1843, she is put upon the homeopathic
allowance of 77/. She does not appear, however, to
have thriven on such short allowances, for next year,
1844, she obtained 2,372/, and in 1845, 1,181/. ; in
1846, only 641.; but in 1847, though there is the entry,
Not yet received, being at sea," there is the ominous
intimation of her return to her native country and her
tax-eating, in the words "Requires a very large repair."
There are statements of particulars of the cost of other
ships given with those of the Vernon, to show, by com-
parison, that other builders have given the country costly
ships as well as Sir William Symonds. To this dispute
about the merits of men the public are indebted for learn-
ing something. of the merits of ships and their cost,
which otherwise they might not have 'mown.
The Caledonia is a first-rate, carrying 120 guns, and
measuring 2,712 tons. She was launched in 1808, has
been twenty-one years in commission, and nineteen
years lying unused.
The first cost of the Caledonia was £81,507
Her repairs cost, from 1808 to 1815, £10,448
it from 1815 to 1831, 92,151
If from 1831 to 1834, 3,575
1) from 1834 to 1839, 9,500
ft from 1839 to 1844, 4,715
f) from 1844 to 1847, 3,959

123,348

Total for cost and repairs ... £204,855
The St. Vincent, a ship now in commission, built in
1815—

Cost ... ... ••• ... ... ... £37,444
And for repairs since then ... ... ... 63,088

£1.50,532
"Requiring a large repair when paid off," in the words
of the Admiralty return.
The Impregnable is an unfortunate instance of a mis-
applied name. She was built in 1810, at
A cost of ... £G0,267
Fitted for sea in 1812, at a cost of ••• 4,739
And has seen b3en troubled with " repairs"
to the cost of ... j 95,426

Cost and repairs of the Impregnable, now a
harbour ship ... LC160,432
But the story of the Tremendous is a more interest-
ing one. The hair-breadth escapes of this ship, in the
perilous service of lying in harbour at Sheerness and
Chatham, boarded every year by her " enemy," the sur-
veyor, ordering repairs for her, and ultimately dooming
her to be taken to pieces and sold for old timber, are ro-
mantic. Like the Impregnable, her name was a misap-
plication of a strong word. The Tremendous was, among
ships. a friendless orphan. Nobody seemed to have any
friendship to her. They ran up bills of repairs against
her to take away her character, and still ordered
more, until the event came which they seem to
have had in view. Her name and fame became
such a reproach; extravagances of other ships in
their " repairs" being laid to her charge, that
the Lords of the Admiralty at last signed her death-war-
rant, and she was taken to Deptford to be destroyed. The
work of destruction began, but, like the heroine of a
milo-drama, doomed to suffer for another's crime, her de-
liverers appeared at Deptford just in time to save her,
and she was saved—has changed her name, and is now
a respectable frigate, and may be heard of any day by
inquirinc, for the Grampus.
The following "Extracts from the Annual Surveys"
give the leading facts in official language:—
" Sheerness, 1835.—Tremendous requires a middling
repair."
"Sheerness, 1837.—Tremendous requires a middling
repair, and will cost 31,9871."
"Chatham, 1843.—Tremendous requires a middling
repair, and will cost 31,987/.; after such repair she may
last six years."

THE STAMPS AND TAXES AND

THE EXCISE.
The consolidation of the department of Stamps and
Taxes with the Excise will lead to considerable altera-
tions in the management of the clistribution of stamps
and collection of the dutiesin provincial districts.
Under the old system each county possessed an
officer styled distributor of stamps for the
county. In some cases, however, especially in
Wales, where the amount of stamps used is but trifling,
two ortthree counties were placed under one head dis-
tributor. Again, in some of the manufacturing districts,
such as Yorkshire and Lancashire, where the amount of
the population and the extent of business to be trans-
acted, rendered it impossible for any one offics r efficiently
to attend to the whole duties, the distritcs have been
divided into two or more head distributorships. In all
cases the head distributor has been required to reside iu
that town within his district where the largest amount
of stamps was usually disposed of.
In every other town of sufficient magnitude to jus-
tify the appointment, an officer, called a sub-dis-
tributor, was stationed, who was supplied from
time to time by the head distributor for the dis-
trict with the necessary stock of rtamps, and who
accounted to that officer for the sums collected by
him for stamp duties; security being given, both by the
head distributor and the subordinates, to an amount
sufficient to cover the average value of the stock of
stamps in their hat.ds, as well as the amount of their
remittances.
The head distributor was remuerated by a per centage
on the amount of stamps sold by him in the town where
he resided, such per centage varying in different dis-
tricts; and in addition to this emolument, he was allowed
a poundage of about 11. 103. per cent. upon the
stamps sold by the sub-distributors in the other towns
comprised within his district, and who were themselves
remunerated by a similar per centage. The total amount
of poundage in England alone, for the last year, was
about 33,0001., of which about two-thirds, or 22,0001.,
was paid to the head distributors, and the remain-
der to the respective sub•distributors. Of this 22,0004
about 10,0001. was the amount accruing on the collec-
tions made by the head distributors in their own offices,
and about 12,0001. arose from the poundage on the
stamps sold, or the duties received, by their sub-distri-
butors in the other towns of the district.
It should be borne in mind that the aforegoing state-
ment has no reference to the amount of stamps sold or
stamp duty collected in the metropolitan district, where
the entire business is conducted at the office at Somer-
set-house.
It is now decided that, with a view to the saving of
this poundage, and also to the more speedy
erevenue, the present system of
supplying
.the officers in the minor towns through
a bead distributor shall be discontinued, and in
nceofthe
future these officers will no longer be treated as subor-
dinates, but ;will act as independent distributors, rniitta double
com-
municating with the controlling department in London.
and accounting directly to the Commissioners of Inland
Revenue, instead of through the present head distribu-
tors, whose powers and emoluments will thereupon
cease, excepting in so
~far as they may be derived from
the sale of stamps and collection of stamp duties in the
towns wherein they respectively reside.
it is proposed to make this change gradually, in order
to prevent inconvenience and embarrassment in the con-
duct of the business in the central office in London;
and as soon as it shall have been brought fully into
operation, the benefits resulting from the new arrange-
ment will be confined not merely to the pecuniary
saving, but a better system will be introduced
in checking the accounts of the distributors,
their remittances will be more regular and frequent, and
their conduct and proceedings brought more immediately
under the cogniziece of the Commissioners of Inland
Revenue; while the employment of the collectors of
Excise in superintending the stocks and sales of the dis-
tributors will be a guarantee for the security of the
revenue far more t ffectual than has been hitherto exer-
cised under the old system.

(These two sums are not explained.)
"June 28th, 1843.—1 would recommend that the Tre
mendous, as she will require more than 32.000/. to make
her efficient for service, be selected to replace the Duke
as a lazaret at Standgate Creek, being found unfit for
further service. (Signed) W. SYMONDS."
" Admiralty Order, 15th July, 1843—Tremendous not
to be fitted, as another ship in ►ieu of the Duke is not
required."
" December 19th, 1843—Proposed, with other ships,
to be sold or taken to pieces, as more economical than
to repair.
(Signed) " W. SYMONDS."

" Admiralty Order, 28th February. 1844—The Tre-
mendous, at Sheerness, to be prepared for being sent to
Deptford, to be broken up."
_

Next follows a report, dated May 2, by Captain Hill,
stating how his attention was drawn to the ship after
the breakage had begun; that she was in a sound con
dition, " not having been at sea, or in commission, since
she had a large repair."
Next comes an " Admiralty Order," dated May 4,
1844, stopping the work of up-breaking. And this is
followed by an order to appoint surveyors to examine
her, " Taking care," says the order, "not to recommend
any who have been engaged in any of the former or
present surveys of this ship." From this it would ap-
pear that the Admiralty doubted the propriety of en-
trusting her fate, though her sound timbers were now
exposed, to those who bad before passed sentence on her.
She was saved accordingly.

Next comes " A returni of the expense of converting
the Tremendous, 74-gun ship, into a frigate of reduced
form ; number of days in hand, cost in labour and ma-
terials, in comparison with cost of building a new ship."
In baud from 21st May, 1844, to 10th January, 1846:
Cost of materials £8,028
Workmanship ... ... ... 6.006

Total ... .., £14,034
Comparative cost of building a new frigate of equa
class and armament:—
Materials ... ... ... .£33,354
Workmanship ... ... ... 11,813

Total ...
14,034

Difference ... £31,133
The difference is a key to many of the most remark •
able phenomena in ship-building, repairing, altering, and
fitting up, now in progress in the dockyards. The ship
was supposed to be worthless, except as for old materials.
She was discovered to be worth converting into a fifty-
gun frigate. The difference between the cost of her
conversion, and the cost of a new frigate, is credited to
the country as a saving. Accordingly, steps are taken
to enrich the country by a succession of such savings,
of which a few specimens are subjoined.
The Prince Regent was a three. decker. A master
shipwright and an admiral superintendent thought she
would make a good two-decker, carrying 90 or 100 guns'
and would only cost 25,000/ to be cut down to that class.
After a correspondence with the Admiralty, in which it
came out that the razLing of the Windsor Castle, on
some former occasion, had cost 42,5801., and of the Ocean
45,432/., the estimated cost for the Prince Regent was re-
duced to 24,500/. On the 16th of March, 1844, the
Admiralty ordered the ship to be cut down. The
surveyor of the navy suggested that, in cutting
down ships, they cut away the soundest parts, and left
the unsoundest, which were in the bottom. The sur-
veyor, Sir William Symonds, was not so potent as he
once was. He was now a builder of experience, but he
was fast growing out of favour. The prospect of having
an excellent two-decker for 24,5001. seems to have
charmed the Admiralty, and they seem, by the returns
which they ordered, to have contemplated a number of
other cheap two-deckers, to be made out of the Hiber-
nia, Queen Charlotte, St. Vincent, Britannia, Howe,
Princess Charlotte, Impregnable, Camperdown, Nelson,
Royal George, and Royal Adelaide (the three last being
ships that had never been at sea!). But Sir William
Symonds reminded the Admiralty that such a reduction
would be " equal to twelve decks mounting 240 guns,"
and would reduce the effective power of the navy."
This seems to have let in a new light upon the Admi-
ralty; they paused, and the Prince Regent only was re-
duced. The estimate for cutting her down to a ninety
gun ship bad been 24,500/, but the actual cost being a
trifle more, namely, 29,315/. more than the estimate, the
service done to the country, even by Sir William
Symonds, in -)reventing, for a time, the reduction of
twelve decks instead of one, will appear to be consider-
able. Here is an official return of the actual cost of
the Prince Regent, repairs, alterations, &c., sailing from
Portsmouth 2 Ith March, 1848:"

WINE BRANDC—Application was recently male to
the revenue authorities at one of the docks, to be allowed
to take off the marks or brands from some casks of wine
for shipment to France, and the request was demurred
to, on the ground that by altering the marks the casks
could not be traced in case of necessity, and also that by
making a general use of such a permission some fraud
might be committed by making the wine to appear of
however, considered that
more value than with the original import marks. The
and
do thesohsmarls mark alluded to would not be recognised for any re-
b.jectionable,
veonuld ue pbuorpionsveosl,vedan.d wasit was,
its
imported and bonded,
tsas
place, was o
n
for trade purposes, in which no revenue considerations
R
the request to cut out the quality. mark of the wine, and
al
tu substitute by
another which
in
it
the bange, or quality mark, being .equally it not more
important than the brand, as denoting the quality and
value of t',(3 wine. It would, however, be permitted to
the parties to put the required. mark on the casks as
he export mark, without erasing the original ones
HIGHLAND DESTITIITION,--911 Thursday after-
noon several flushing boats arrived at Granton Pier
from the Fife fishing villages, on their way to the
%Vest Highlands, for the purpose of instructing
the natives in deep-sea fishing. There were three
large boats with their crews, amounting to twenty-four
men, from Cellardykes, and two large and two
small boats with sixteen men from St. M. onance. They
were engaged by Capt. Ross for the Edinburgh commit-
tee, and are to proceed to Skye and Wester Ross. The
men are fine hardy-looking fellows, and their boats are in
first-rate order and well supplied with fishing mate-
rials of all kinds.' In each boat there was a smart active-
looking woman for cocking and baiting the lines, who
are to initiate the Highland women in the art. Early
on Friday morning they all assembled at Granton Pier,
and after being inspected by Mr. Skene, the secretary,,
who addressed a few words of encouragement to the
men, they departed in high spirits for their new field of
en terprise.-- Edinbuish Advertiser.
UNIVERSITY or Dunnem.—An open scholarship
in this university, of the annual value of 301., tenable for
three years, will be filled up in October next. The
Venerable Archdeacon Thorpe, D.D., warden of the
university, has given notice that the examination will
commence on Wednesday, October 17.

Cost of cutting down and repairing her hu11... £37,673
Mast and yards ... 2,954
Rigging and stores 13,188

Total ••• ••• ...
53,81.5
The last thing heard of the Prince Regent was her
" behaviour " in a stormy passage to Lisbon, at the be-