The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-21 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The following general order has been issued, dated
Horse Guards, S.W., May 11:

"All General and field officers returning from foreign
service are requested to report themselves personally to the
Adjutant-General, with a view to their being introduced to
his Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief,
should he desire to see them.

" By order of his Royal Highness the General Command
ing-in-Chief.

"JAMBS YORKE SCARLETT, Adjutant-General."
Major-General Hutchinson, Commander of Forces
in the Western District, issued a district order on
the Queen's birthday, in which it is stated that he
cannot refrain from naming in orders the 2d (Ply-
mouth), 3d (Devonport), and 16th (Stonehouse)
Companies of Devon Rifle Volunteers, who at their
own request formed part of the parade in honour
of her Majesty. He is fully sensible of the laudable
zeal shown by them, and is much gratified at their
soldierlike appearance, and at the steady manner in
which they marched past and took part in the pro-
ceedings.
A large draught of troops is expected to leave the
camp at Colchester in a few days for service in In-
dia. The draught is thus composed:—For Cal-
cutta-Ist battalion sth Fusileers, 210 men of all
ranks ; Ist battalion, Gth Regiment, 75 ; 37th Regi-
ment, 132; 38th, 93; 54th, 93; 88th, 167; 97th, 80;
for Bombay-56th Regiment, 149 men of all ranks ;
and for Madras—lst battalion Ist Foot, 80 men of
all ranks; making a general total of 1,125 men.
Intelligence has been received at the Chatham Gar-
risen that the head-quarters and service companies
of the 53d (Shropshire) Regiment embarked at Cal-
cutta for England, in the East India troopship
Clarendon, on the 12th April last, under the com-
mand of Lieut.-Col. F. English, C. 8., and conse-
quently the regiment may shortly be expected to
arrive at Gravesend. The 53d has seen a great deal
of hard service in India, where it has been stationed
16 years, having left England in August, 1844. It
served in the Sutlej campaign of 1845-6, and was
present at the decisive actions of Aliwal and
Sobraon ; it also served in the Punjab campaign of
1849, including the battle of Goojerat. The regiment
also took part in the campaign of 1851-2 against the
bill tribes en the Peshawur frontier. This regiment
also bore a conspicuous part in the suppression of
the Indian mutiny, and took part in the action of
ht.j wah ; was present at the relief of Lueknow by
Lord Clyde, the battle of Cawnporo on the 6th Dec.',
pursued the Gwalior Contingent to Serai Ghat, was
in:the action of the Khodagunge and entry into
Futtehghur,[the storming and capture of Eeangunge,
and the siege and capture of Lucknow, besides

In addition to the boats named above, the Angler
and the Fancy have been hauled up on the slipway
withi❑ the past month. Of the boats the repairs
of which have been completed, little else can now
be said but that their repairs have, with the ex-
ception of the Escort and the Earnest, been gene-
rally of a very extensive nature, and that it is
now doubtful whether those first repaired have
been done so effectually as they in reality required,
as the suspicion of :the officials at that time was
not excited to any great extent, and the orders for
the investigations into the vessels' defects were
only of a limited character. The latter portion
of the 22 completed vessels were, however, more
thoroughly searched, and, as a result of this, one
of the last—the Pheasant—cost about £1,400.
The four vessels the repairs of which are suspended
offer the most striking examples at present in
Haslar yard of the faulty construetion of these
craft ; the Mackerel, perhaps, standing No. 1 in
this unenviable position, but closely waited upon
by the Cherokee and the Caroline—the latter
vessel famous by her short ends of copper bolts.
The Swan bears the Caroline company in this
latter respect, as one of the longest and most im-
portant bolts in her port bow has been found to con-
sist of two short ends only. This robbery of the
copper bolts has, there is no doubt, been committed
by the workmen, as it would be preposterous to
suppose that any master would place himself in the
power of his workmen by serving them out short
ends instead of full-sized bolts for their work. Of
the boats not examined, the Ready, Thrush, Flirt,
Midge, and Tiny are the remainder of those boats
which have never been coppered, and of which 22
completed in their repairs form the other portion.
The outside appearance of the Midge and Tiny is
very favourable; but, judging from past experience,
it will be impossible to form a correct judgment as
to their condition until their planking is partially
stripped off and their timbers exposed. The Flirt,
Thrush, and Ready look as bad as they possibly
can do while their planking hangs on them. In
the first-named of these three vessels the heads of
these copper-bolts are sunk to such a depth in the
plank that there can be barely half an inch between
the washer and the vessel's timbers. This complaint
of short bolts (not short ends of bolts) has been pretty
general in the boats which have been completed.
Reverting to the condition of the planking of the ves-
sels, the bow of the Flirt is, perhaps, the worst of the
three ; a stout walkingstick would knock it sheer off
her timbers for six planks upwards from the keel.
So bad is it, that where the officials of theyard have
tested it the holes have been filled up with
grease, with an outer coating of tar to hide it
from the public eye. The machinery of all these
vessels is stated to be in fair condition. Alaudsley
and Field and Penn and Son were the contractors,
and it can confidently be stated that there was no
scamping in the work of either firm.