The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-06 00:00:00

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... 13,012 6 3
... 3,834 7 3
... 54,630 12 0
... 329 8 1
... 4.173 7 9
2.559 9 7
... 4,264 0 0
... 8,985 0 0
... 1,832 .3 1

[PRICE SD.

f 236,400 1 2
The above memorandum does not comprise the works
since the year 1831 or 1832; and the amount done by
private contract has also been very considerable since
that period by the same
parties.
Relative to the contracts for the supply of timber, the
witness said— (5546)—" I have talked with several
first-rate men in London, and they tell me that, from
some mystery about the contracts, they will not have
anything to do with them, they will not stoop to curry
favour with those official characters, and they decline to
have anything to doh ith it."
5,450. "Can you explain in whet way any such par-
tiality can arise,with a public department?" "By parties
being favourites with certain persons; I know of no
other way."
5451. (Nfr. Cobden) "Favourites with whom?" "With
official characters; if he is on visiting terms with them,
often a man would have great favour shown him; on the
contrary, I have myself had very
great opposition on the
part of official characters, from various motives, political
and other causes."
5,452. (Mr. Hume) " With what oscers have you
had variance which you thought operate!! against the
interests which the contractors with the ,ciovernment
have?" speak of a party who has great influt
who can almost, I may say, return a member of Par-
liament." 'ace there,
Where?' "In Pembroke."

" How can the power of returning a Member of P.VI'
liament have;any influence on contractors?" "I do not
know that he has upon contractors; but having the com-
bined influence of a dockyard officer, and trustee to an
estate commanding so many votes, any resident con-
tractor may be influenced more or less."- (The witness
alluded to the facility which the officers have of rejec,ing
timber or stones to the detriment of the merchant or his
agent, on frivolous pretences.)
5,455.—Mr. Greene—" Does a contractor who sup-
ports the Government get the preference?" "No doubt
he does. lam speaking of favouritism; any parties who
are favourites have a preference shown them which
others have not. I was agent on one occasion to a party
for supplying her Majesty's steam-packets with coals;
we had a contract for about 8,000 tons of coals. A con-
tractor was applied to by a Government officer for an
appointment to act as his agent. Ile (the contractor)
personally applied to me, and told me that he thought it
was incompatible with the rules of the service that an
officer should be agent to a contractor; and he appointed
me. I immediately had every obstacle possible trtrown
in my way." . .

The account of those obstacles shows error upon er.•131%
wrong upon wrong, in the dockyard system; but it is
too long for quotation.
5469. "I have known the agent of the timber con-
tractor to be the son of the timber store receiver; the
one who preceded me was so."

5482. 'tls it a customary thing for officers in the em-
ployment of the Admiralty to be made use of by con-
tractors fur the issue of their different articles?" "It
is contrary to their instructions; it can only be done
secretly."
"Is it done secretly ?" "It is."
5,494. " Are you aware of any other particu-
lars respecting contracts which you think preju-
dicial to the public?" " I think that, as at present
carried on, the contracts for teams of horses
are very improperly given are monopolized by
tenants of the Bush estate " (the storekeeper's
estate.) "It is made a matter of bargain with
the tenants of those farms that they shall have one or
tao teams, according to the size of the farm, in the
dockyard; that contract has now been going on several
years without competition. I have mentioned it to Admi-
ral Dundas and the Earl of Auckland; they said it was
very improper, but it still goes on."

EXPERIMENTS IN THE MARSHES.
W'ooLwren, APRIL 4.—The experiments at the two-
gun battery in the Royal Arsenal were continued to-day
iu the presence of Lieutenant Colonel English, com-
manding officer of Royal Engineers, and Lieutenant-
Colonel Chalmer, Assistant Director-General of Artil-
lery. 20 rounds were fired from the B.inch howitzer,
and 20 rounds from the 32-pounder gun, a new axle
having been made for the rear wheels of 'the iron car-
riage, and the gun and carriage transposed to the left
side of die battery, the howitzer being taken to the right
side. The firing commenced to day by discharging both
guns at one time to give a greater concussion, and atter
the second round the gun tied howitzer were placed at
such angles that ,the shot and shell crossed each other,
and a number of rounds were fired with both guns on
the same angle, but no visible effect was produced, the
battery standing as firm as a rock, with one exception,
when a small pebble, of about three-quarters of an inch,
which had not been sufficiently imbedded in the ma-
terial, became detached. The firing was under the
direction of Captain Lawrence, R.A., wbo had the charge
of a detachment for manning two guns. At 2 o'clock
P.M. Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Downman C. 8.,
K.C.11., Commas dant of the garrison; Major-General
Lacy, Director-General of Artillery; Colonel Campbell,
Superintendent of the Royal Military Repository; Colonel
Gordon, Director of the Carriage Department; Colonel
Dundas, C. 8., Inspector of Artillery; Colonel Crutten-
den, Royal Artillery ; Lieutenant-Colonel Chalmer,
Assistant Director General of Artillery; Lieutenant-
Colonel Bell, Royal Horse Artillery; Lieutenant-Colonel
Anderson, Commanding Field Batteries; Lieutenant-
Colonel Bent; Lieutenant-Colonel Nevett ; Major Burn,
Assistant Inspector of Artillery; Brigade-Major Bing-
ham; Captain Tylden, Deputy Assistant Quartermastar-
General ; Captain St. George, Captain Lawrence, Captain
Cannon, Captain Anderson, and a great number of officers
of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, assembled in
the marshes to witness experiments with 32-pounder shot
on the principle submitted by Mr. Minesinger, an Ameri-
can, from Pennsylvania. The shot were cast under the di-
rection of Col. Dundas, at the foundry in the Royal Arsenal
at Woolwich, and being more elongated than the
common round shot, Mr. Minesinger'a being exactly
shaped like an egg, with a slightly-curved projection, not
unlike the four-leaved screw propellers, at the biggest
end, they required such a quantity of metal to fill the
bore of the gun that each of the six shot fired to-day
weighed several onces above 461 b. Mr. Minesinger
having stated that his principle would carry a much
heavier shot with the usual service charge of powder,
10/. for 32 pounder guns, it was to test the 461 b weight
shot with the common 32-pounder shot, that the experi-
ments were carried on to-day. The first round fired was
a round 32-pounder shot :at 1,250 yards range, the ele-
vation of the gun taken by a quadrant being 21 degrees.
Lieutenant-Colonel Chalmer directed the firing, and
the gun was so excellently laid that the first shot
knocked down the target at that long range. The second
round was fired with one of Mr. Minesinger's 4olb, shot,
the gun elevated 2f degrees, and the shot tell
about 150 yards short of the target, a very little to the
left. The third round, with the common shot, went
about a yard above the target; the fourth round, with
46-pounder, went near the base of the target on the left;
the fifth round, with common shot, about five feet over
the target; the sixth round, with 46-pounder, a few
yards short; the seventh round, with 32. pounder shot, a
few feet to the left; the eighth round, with s'6-pounder,
near the base of the target; the ninth round, with 32-
pounder, about two feet on the left; the tenth round,
with 46-pounder, a few yards short, but in a very direct
line with the target; the eleventh round, with 32 pounder,
close to the target; and the twelfth round, with 46-
pounder, having been put into the gun without wadding.
Mr. Minesinger being of opinion that the wadding was
too thick and elastic, and his judgment was found to be
correct, as the shot was carried several hundred yards
over the mound, and, after grazing, entered the river.
The two last rounds of Mr. Minesingor'a shot were fired
at an elevation of three degrees.
WOOLWICH. APRIL s.—Colonel Gordon, Directcrr of
the Carriage Department; Lieutenant-Colonel English.
Commanding Officer of Royal Engineers; Lieutenan
te
Colonel Chalmer, Assistant-Director-General of Artil-
lery; Lieutenant-Colonel Hardinge, K. 11.. Director of
the Laboratory Department; and Capta u Moberly, of
the Carriage Department, assembled at the butt in the
Royal Arsenal to-day, to witness the continuation of the
experiments at the two-gun battery. The men of the
two•guu detachment, under the command of Captain
Lawrence, commenced firing at ten o'clock A.M., Bad
thirty rounds were fired with shells from the 8-inch
howitzer, and thirty rounds of solid shot from the 32-
pounder gun. There have now been fired 100 ronnds from
each gun-30 each on Monday, 20 each on TueAgY, 20
each on Wednesday, and 30 each to-day (Thursday).
which has concluded the experiments of firing front
battery, and the patent material has stood theoustevbeii4
tests that could be made from any battery t_l3
owf 270 tone,
in the least degree injured or shaken,
mass of which it is composed, consisting
h d, although the
being as firm and solid as when i
was repeated for
several nce
cross-firing of both piece.thewi bole of this
pieces were broken off
nearly three days. To-day
_a
;little at the • • •
which the 32. pounder gun Was mounted. Tile
joinings, but that
the nave of one of the rearw heels of the iron gun-ear-
ht be obviated in lu tire if the entire platform was
might rpilaagt platforms romn sitcast thicker and in one piece, or in pieces running lon-
gitudinally in the direction of the recoil, instead of
across, as it is at present. There will be no more ex-
periments at the battery during the present week, and
the next will be by firing at instead of from it to test
its strength of resistance to shot compared with shot
directed against brick or granite work. One of the enm•
brasures of the battery is constructed on the isortunTa
principle—narrow inside, and sloping gradually on: w'e'ds
in the straight line of a certain angle. The other flua.
brasure is constructed on a principle submitted by
tenant-Colonel Emmett, Royal Engineers, being of tL
same dimensions as the common embrasure inside, but
at one fourth of the thickness from the inside, having a
small curve on each side similar to the moulding of
se a
picture frame, the remaining part of the distance to the
outside being formed in the usual manner.

THE IMPORTANT TRIAL AT WARWICH.--BIRMINGP"
HAM, THURSDAY.—This morning the trial of Mr. Grif-
fin, the attorney at Leamington, for a series of the most
extraordinary libels on Lord Leigh and his family, was
brought to a close by the conviction of the defead.snt.
The jury almost instantly returned a verdict ?f Guilty,
and the counsel for the prosecution prayed imnrdiat,
judgment, oa the ground that a conspiracy mute in
Lancashire to enable the defendant
tilt proceed to Aixte-
ric,, in case of his being fou.rid gy. Chief Justice
Wilde then sentenced the prisoner to two years' irapri.
sonment, and ordered him to enter into sureties of 5001.
RATE Iti AID BILL:Mr. Tuffnell paired with
Captain W. H. Maga?, the member for Westmeath, ill
favour of the Rate in Aid Bill, and not with Captiss
Uorgan, VI WIN erroriceusly stated yesterday.

4-7;77.y.
Gateway and house
Kiln••• •••
eve ing oc rya
Pitehhouse ..•
Market walls, &a.
ne rvoir
Offices ...
Storehouses
Pumphouse •••