The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-02 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON

NEWS FROM IRELAND.
A significant document has just been issued, namely,
an address from the Grand Orange Lodge of the hide.
pendent Orange Association, which says :—" With the
beginning of the year the provisions of the Irish
Church Act came into operation. Already we have
ample proof that this great measure will exert a healing
influence as time progresses, and .men become satisfied
with the position of absolute equality in their relation t'
the State." After this remarkable testimony to the
sound and statesmanlike policy of the present Govern-
ment, the address goes on to acclaim the opening of
Trinity College, and to congratulate the brothrenwpon
the growing spirit of independence which is being deve-
-1 loped throughout Ulster and other parts of the country.
Probably no hardly contested measure of policy has ever
so rapidly received such a tribute from those previously so
hostile to it as the Orange Association has thus'tiffered to
the Irish Church Act.
unfortunate delays in matters which in them-
Duld appear to be merely petty details are now
stopping the action of two important legal tribunals in
Ireland. No proceeding can be taken in the new Court
for Matrimonial and Divorce cases for want of a seal, said
to be ordered but not finished, and no orders can be issued
from the Landed Estates Court for want of a registrar.
No matter how urgent fhe case might be, there is
no one since the 23rd of December last to sign any
orders the judges of. the Estates Court may give or to
impress upon them the official seal. Divorce cases in Ire-
land are happily rare, and the absence of a seal does not
inflict much injury on many, but the operations of the
Landed Estates Court are extensive and incessant.
Much depends upon promptitude of action, yet day after
day the judges gravely pronounce solemn decisions which
are all suspended through the want of a registrar.

Some

selves we

NAVAL AND MILT i A.RY INTELLIGENCE.
Lieutenant Prince Arthur, of the Ist Battalion Rifle
Brigade, rejoined his regiment on .'Tuesday, after about
five weeks' absence on leave, and, resumed his military

duties.
Lady Napier of Magdala leaves for India on the 18th

of this month.
Messrs. C. Mitchell and Co., of Low Walker, on the
Tyne, are finishing two gunboats of the Staunch clasS for

the Admiralty.
The Viligaut, new despatch boat, will be launched on
the 17th instant from DevOnport dockyard. hhe is a
powerful vessel, constructed on the model of the well-
known despatch boat Helicon ; having; however, a fore-
castle added. Competent authorities anticipate that she
will surpass the Helicon in speed.
The low freeboard monitor Abyssinia, 1,854 tons, 4
guns, 290-horse power, built under contract with the Hon.
Council of India, and Admiralty supervision for the de-
fence of Bombay, by Messrs. J. and W. Dudgeon at Mill-
wall, arrived out at Bombay on the 23d of January after a
very successful voyage, via the Suez Canal. The log of
the Abyssinia on reaching England will afford matter of
much interest, as being the first record of the voyage of a
vessel of the type and dimensions over so long a distance.

The observations taken in the proof trials of the 35-
ton naval gun have furnished information sufficiently
important to induce the authorities .at the War Office to
sanction a further series of trials, commencing with the
low charge of 401 b. of powder, increasing it gradually
to 1301 b., the largest quantity with which the
gun has yet been tried, and which is the largest
charge of powder the gun can consume. It is
proposed to fire the same shot with varying charges,
and to measure the velocity with each round for scientific
purposes. At the conclusion of these experiments, the
gun will be conveyed to Shoeburyness for experiments as
to accuracy, penetration, and endurance. The great gun is
at present lying on a truck in front of the proof butts, to
which ordinary visitors to the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich,
have not access, but it is an object of great interest, and
many persons have obtained special permission to
see it. Preparations are now being made in the
Royal Gun Factories for the construction of the
other 12 guns ordered to be made on the same pattern.
A large furnace is being built in the Old Forge of the
Royal Arsenal for the manufacture of them and the other
large guns on the Woolwich principle. The method of
construction has been explained by Captain Stoney; Royal
Artillery, of the Royal Gun Factories, in a paper read
at the Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich, on
" The Theory of Gun Architecture," and. consists
essentially, first, in arranging the fibres of the
iron in the several parts so as to best resisti,the strain
to which they are respectively exposed—thus, the
walls or sides of the gun are composed of coils, with the
fibres running round the gun, ',so as to enable the gun to
bear the transverse strain of the discharge without
bursting, while the breech end is fortified against the
longitudinal :strain by a solid forged'breechpiece with the
fibre running along the gun ; and, secondly, in shrinking
the successive parts together, so as to ensure cohesion
throughout the,mass and the tension oL the'outer coils, so
that each part of the gun shall do its proportion of work
at the instant.
The remains of Staff - Surgeon Major Alexander
M'Arthur M.D., late of the Herbert Hospital, Shooter's-
bill, were on Tuesday buried with military honours at
Plumstead. Prince Arthur was present at the funeral.
The deceased, Who was greatly respected, died suddenly
at his residence, Shooter's-hill, on Thursday last. He
retired to rest in apparently good health, and was found
next morning dead in bed. An inquest was afterwards
held, and the post-mortem examination shewed death to
have been caused .by disease of the heart. He was 44

years of age.
The next examination of candidates for admission to
the Royal Military Academy, "Woolwich, will commence
on Monday, the sth of June. ,
On Monday, morning about forty 'men, principally
smiths and labourers, were taken on at the Royal Arsenal,
for the laboratory and gun factories. The shell foundry
continues to be the centre of activity, about 300 tons of
iron arriving weekly from Newcastle, a large proportion
of the metal being supplied by Sir William Armstrong,
the quality being that especially adapted for making
chilled shells. .
The detachments of non-commissioned officers and men
of the Royal Marines who are to relieve those serving on
board the Blanche, 6, and the Rosario, 3, on the
Australian station, have left Chatham for Sheerness,
whence they will embark on board the Megaara for con-
veyance to Australia. The Megara will take out the new
crews for the Blanche and Rosario, and will bring home
the crews to be relieved, who are to be paid off on com-
pleting their period of duty afloat.