The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-08 00:00:00

SHIPS OF WAR AS TRANSPORTS

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING HERALD.
Sir,—Seeing in the Herald, Yesterday, a proposition
from an ' Officer in the Navy for making men-of-war
useful as transports, and praising the arrangements of
one so employed, by dismounting her lower deck guns,
and putting the carriages in her hold to accommodate
600 soldiers for conveyance from Cork to Gibraltar, thus
reducing her armament to that of a frigate, and lum-
bering the ship throughout, I beg to call to your remem-
brance that the Thunderer, 84 guns, fitted by Mr. Lang,
of Woolwich-yard (whose ability and experience have
been well tested in fitting sailing and steam men-of-war),
was so arranged on his plan for conveyance of troops
that she took out a regiment of 600 soldiers without dis-
mounting a gun, or in the least interfering with her
fighting capacity, or with the comforts of her crew,
from Cork to Gibraltar, where, after disembarking the
troops, she took on board three months' stores and pro-
visions on her orlop deck, and then proceeded to Malta.
The Revenge, 74 guns, fitted on another plan, at the same
time, sent ashore her lower deck guns, thereby reducing
her armament to that of a frigate, and also conveyed troops'
to Gibraltar. Having disembarked them she returned
to England for her guns, and then went back to Gibral-
tar, thus not only losing much time, and increasing ex-
pense, but she was reduced from a 74-gun ship to a 46-
gun frigate, out to Gibraltar and again to England.
Now, it is worthy the notice of the Admiralty, that if
ships were fitted as the Thunderer an immense expense
would be saved, and great advantage would be gained
inasmuch as they would not only be efficient transports,
and be capable of taking stores when required, but by
keeping their guns and good seamen, they would be
always efficient men-of-war—in fact, always ready for
fighting as line-of-battle ships, let them be employed in
whatever service they might be required to perform.
I presume that the important national advantages to be
gained from the employment and exercise of our officers
and the training of a large force of seamen under the
pennant, in the general adoption of men-of-war as
transports, will not be questioned. With the strongest
confidence that your earnest ,nd disinterested desire to
benefit the service and to increase our national resources
will induce you to give insertion to the above, and as-
suring you that your past exertions are highly appro.
elated by all grades and classes,
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obliged servant,
January 6, 1847. AN OLD OFFICER.

TIIB LATE FIRTy AT IRONGATE WIART.—The
name of the man wh.o is missing is Brown. He was the
innocent cause of tilQ fire, as it originated from a spark
from the candle he took into the warehouse to examine
one of the bales of 'goods. It is sp that he is not
dead, but that he. Is keeping out uofposed the way to avoid a
prosecution. Tnis dread, however, is needless, as there
is no doubt the fir© was entirely accidental.
THE ASSAULT BY MisrAßE.—The woman named
Woods, who was nearly killed on " boxing" night by
Al2xander APLei,sh, who mistook her for his wife, is now
expected to recc.ver. APLeish was yesterday taken be-
fore the magistr: 4te at Lambeth Police court, but as the
poor woman WV, not well enough to attend, he was again
remanded.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
The terms offered by the Waterford and Limerick to
the land proprietors of Iffa and On, Tipperary, fur
such part of their ground required on the line, are twon ty-
five years' purchase to fee holders, and seven years' to
tenants at will.
It is expected that the heavy portions (" heavy,"
indeed, where the contractors have to fight through
fifteen tunnels) of the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock, and
Midland, in the neighbourhood of the High Tor tunnels,
will be ready for opening in eighteen months.
The amalgamation system is migrating very far north.
The old Dundee and Arbroath, a six per cent. line, has
thought fit to fuse itself with the Dundee and Perth, one
of the generation of last session.
Rumours are afloat that the proprietors of the East
Lothian Central Railway are in negotiation with Mr.
Hudson for the sale of that line, extending, as it does,
through the valley of the Tyne and the principal lime
and coal districts of the richest agricultural county in
Scotland.
Every train on the Leeds and Bradford to and from
Leeds, says the Railway Gazette, has now attached to it
third-class covered carriages, very comfortably fitted tip,
and securing their inmates from the wet and cold of this
inclement season. Parties taking third-class day tickets
are excluded from these carriages; so that, by taking a
single ticket, the passenger obtains a place in a carriage
almost equally comfortable and weather-tight as the first
and second-class passenger.
MINISTERIAL GRANT.—The Minister of Public Woe ks,
by a decision dated the 16th of December, makes an ad-
vance of one million six hundred thousand francs to the
Prefect of Creuse for the purpose of proceeding with the
works of the central line.
Every now and then examples occur showing the dan-
ger of swing gates and level crossing, corroborating the
position of those who contend for their abolition by the
general substitution of light bridges, likely in the long
run to be more economical to the companies and protec-
tive to the public than the machinery at present in use,
which must of necessity have annexed to it a lodge and
a keeper, or salaried superintendant of some sort. As
an illustration, we understand that last week one of the
most miraculous affairs occurred on the Ardrossan line.
The Londonderry steamer, which should have arrived at
Ardrossan on Friday morning, did not arrive till a late
hour in the evening, and the passengers had to be con-
veyed by a special train to Glasgow. On the signal
given by the engineer, two gates have to be opened at
the crossing of the railway on Raise-street. The
keeper, not expecting it to pass through, went away,
and left the gates closed, when the train came up and
carried away gates and posts. The crash, which re-
sembled Caunder, did not discompose the passengers the
least. Happily, no lives were lost, nor any bruises sus-
tained.
THE MENAI BRIDGE EXPERIMENTS.—These experi-
ments on the large scale, of which we formerly gave en •
gravings and notices, have been continued till now, and
are quite satisfactory. The only point on which doubt
remained was as to the ability of the bridge to withstand
the effect of gusts of wind by its lateral strength. For
the purpose of bringing this to the test, some further
experiments have just been completed. The following
are some practical details of the most valuable of these
experiments:—The result of the experiments clearly
proves that the lateral stiffness of the tube is sufficient
to resist the strongest wind which can act upon it—that
is to say, for a constant blast, for should the blasts recur
at regular intervals (which I believe they sometimes do),
the vibrations would of course be increased. Taking the
force of the wind at 501bs. on the square foot, which
greatly exceeds any recorded measure, the resistance
offered by the Menai bridge would be about 300
tons x 2600 tons, which is not two-thirds of its own
weight ; so that if the Menai tube, or a similar tube,
support its own weight, when laid on the side, the weight
thus supported would exceed the pressure of the wind.
Now, the model tube, which is in every respect a similar
tube to the Menai, being one-sixth of the dimensions,
weighs 6.2 tons, and when laid on the side deflects .85 in.
only. The greatest weight we loaded it with in this
position was 26,7811b5. (12 tons) half its own weight
rr--15 tons, with which the total deflection was 3i in.
nder this weight the tube showed no signs of falling;
but as we did not wish to injure the tube, no more
weight was added. When in its natural position this
tube deflected 3.2 in., with 60 tons, which after being
left on for sixteen hours increased the deflection to
3'35 in. Since that time the tube has been loaded again
with 60 tons, which has been left on for ten days, and
the deflections at the end of that time only increased ;F1 of
an inch. The calculated breaking weight of this tube is
about 80 tons. I subjoin the areas of the different parts
of the tube as it now stands:—Top = 24 square inches
of metal throughout. Bottom = 22.3 square inches of
metal at centre. Ditto 9.0 square inches of metal at
ends. Two sides 9.6 square inches of metal, same
throughout. 75 feet between supports. Top, 1-10 in.
thick. Sides, 1-12 in. thick. Bottom, double, 5-16 in.
thick at centre. Ditto, single, 4 inch thick at ends.—
Railway Chronicle.
MALDON, WITHAM, AND BRAINTREE.—PRESENTA •
TION OF PLATE TO THE CHAIRMAN AND SOLICITORS.—
On Wednesday evening a grand entertainment was given
at the White Hart Hotel, Witham, on the occasion of
making a valuable presentation of plate to the Rev. Sir
John Page Wood, Bart., the chairman, and Messrs.
Blood and Douglas, the solicitors to the above under-
taking, for which the Act was obtained in the last ses-
sion of Parliament, and the shares (on which the depo-
sit only had been paid) have recently been sold to the
Eastern Counties Company, at a premium of 1/. per
share. The establishment of the railway being regarded
as of great importance by the inhabitants of the three
towns, the occasion was honoured by the company of the
principal inhabitants. The chair was filled by Mr. Sa-
muel Courtauld, of Braintree; and there were present
Sir J. T. Tyrell, one of the Members fur the county ;
Mr. Quinton Dick, M.P. for Maldon ; Messrs. D. Wad
dington, deputy-chairman ; W. C. Wells, and other di-
rectors ; J. Duncan, solicitor ; C. P. Roney, secretar)
to the Eastern Counties Company ; J. B. Western, W.
W. Luard, &c., &c. Letters were read from Mr. Hud-
son, M.P., C. G. Round, M.P. for North Essex ; Mr.
.John Round, M.P. for Maldon, and others, apologising
for absence.
The Journal des Debats, the organ of the French Mi-
nistry, has an important article on the subjects which
will be brought under discussion on the opening of the
Chambers. It is now confessed that the concession
system and the restrictions laid on railway companies
by the Government, have had the effect of throwing
France behind in the career of improvement. It appears
that the chief subject to be brought before the Chambers
will be the poper policy to be pursued with a view to
the promotion of railways. In endeavouring to concen-
trate attention on the railway question, it is, of course,
the object of the French Ministry to avoid other st.b-
jects of political discussion, and with no friendly inten-
tions either to companies or capitalists ; but if the
disadvantages and difficulties in the way of enterprise
be removed, the motive of their removal is of little
importance.

EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW RAILWAY.
The resolution of the directors of the Edinburgh and
Glasgow Railway to stop the travelling of the trains on
a Sunday has created much excitement in Scotland. At
the last meeting of the Town Council in Glasgow, Mr.
Bankier moved as follows:
" I. That the running of railway passenger train's
with the mails on the morning and evening of the Sab-
bath-day, between Glasgow and Edinburgh, as has been
practised for four years past, is absolutely necessary,
there being no other mode of travelling or conveyance
between the two cities.
" 2. That the resolution recently adopted and acted
upon by the directors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow
Railway Company, to stop those trains, is a breach of
faith with the State, and of course with the country, in-
asmuch as the allegation in the preamble of their Act is
not implemented, and that it ought to be rescinded, and
that the morning and evening passenger trains on Sun-
day ought to be immediately re-established.
" 3. That the railway directors having disregarded
the remonstrances of the city of Edinburgh, the burghs
of Linlithgow and Falkirk, and other places, and par-
ticularly of a large and influential number of the citi-
zens of Glasgow, this Council feel it incumbent upon
them to intimate these resolutions to the Parliamentary
representatives of the city, with a request that they shall
oppose all Parliamentary proceedings in which this rail-
way company may be interested, until they comply with
the reasonable wishes of the public so unequivocally ex-
pressed.
" 4. That these resolutions be intimated to the direc-
tors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company."
The subject then led to an extended debate, a number
of members speaking for and against the resolutions.
Mr. Bankier replied, after which the Council came to a
I
the
u-
vote, when 24 voted in favour of tahoedrelso7luvotitoonds
ffoorr
resumption of the Sunday trains,
.1- of these reso
yadljnoufarnvoedu
tpiroenv:,o u7s. qlu
he set ico no .0 n atjhoerni t