The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-15 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Lieut. W. S. Masd, of the Royal Engineer
Train, who has been appointed to the Staff of the
Commanding Royal Engineer at Dover, has been
succeeded at Chatham by Lieut. W. A. Slacke,
R.E., who his been attached to the Royal Engi-
neer Train. _ _

A batch of cast iron guns, manufactured at Low-
moor, for the purpose of being rifled and strength-
ened according to Sir Wm. Armstrong's principle,
were yesterday tested at Woolwich. The erection
of the 20-ton steam hammer for the manufacture of
the coils with which the guns are to be enveloped
is now complete, as well as the arrangements for
making the 100-pounder Armstrong guns at Wool-
wich. The whole of the buildings ordered to be
constructed to give full scope to the establishment
are in a forward state, and the factories will be in
a working condition at the close of the month,
as announced, with an augmentation of 300
practical hands, so as to commence the addi-
tional operations with the beginning of the
ensuing financial year, April 1. A new and
successful method for remedying the disad-
vantage and delay hitherto experienced by the
necessity of sponging out the guns under a course
of constant firing has been invented by the experi-
mental officers at Sheeburyness—namely, a lubri-
cating wad, simply made of hemp dipped in a solu-
tion of beeswax and grease. The wad has been tried
in a course of experiments, and has been found to
remedy the fouling effectually. The wax, of course,
is placed between the charge of powder and the
missile, and, on examination after the discharge,
the gun has been found cleaned out, ready for being
reloaded:

REPEAL OF THE CUSTOMS DUTY ON

FO.R.EIGN PAPER.

nowma:42upfaWayete2u3ar 235. ire
We are requested by the Association of Paper
Manufacturers to publish the following observations
upon the statements made by the President of the
Board of Trade, in his speech on Monday evening,
as the condition of their trade :
" 1. We are told that England abounds in raw
material for our manufacture, and that, notwith-
standing the increase in the quantity of paper made,
the price of rags has fallen 40 per cent. since 1836.
What are the facts ? We paid in 1836 for black
tirhnaeglvsBelroy are
highest forn no
cheaper Manchester
priceraper
.for
bagging 14s. per 2401 b.; we now pay 355. We paid
in 1836 for coloured rags ss. per cwt. ; we now pay
1 ls. or 12s. We paid for Hamburg FF. 18s. ; Nv e
fines 235. 6d. ; we now pay 265. 6d. The fact is
g told
irvei n paid
:lad:
therefore the very reverse of that stated.
France than is England, as in 1857 we exportedin
530 tons of rags to that country, the French
them. This would have been a startling fact
if true,
but the papermakers of France
never
had an
ounce of them ; they were all woollen rags, only fit
for conversion into cloth. The following extract
from a letter of one of our ' principal rag merchants
will prove this :

''' ' London, March 13, 1860.
" ' The rags exported to France is 1857 were woollen rags
only, the greater portion of which were exported by us ;
the demand for them sprang up in France in consequence
of the high price of wool.'

pa"p3e.rilekaerrecotuollad refuseatffhoartdfitanxgive. mronamy
.be
Gibson'sexten
sively used in the manufacture of paper. So it may
be, and so it has been for the last 50 years; bat it
cannot be grown for this purpose, as the flax itself,
whether of long or short growth, will fetch more
for twine and rope and other purposes than the
model agriculturist, who grew flax at a greater pro-
fit than wheat, converted the flax straw into fibre,
he says, for the Leeds flax-market; but he did not
send it to a paper mill!
" 4. We are told that it is a mistake to suppose
there is any deficiency in the supply of rags, if we
take the whole world as the source of supply, in-
stead of two or three particular countries. We be-
lieve this to be true, but, unfortunately, we are shut
out from free access to all countries, with one or
two exceptions.
may be converted into paper. No doubt they may
be, but at the best straw paper is but a bad substi-
tuteptaehpeaerrpe
made
tilaleadeo
ftfhrpoarmti
printing paper
quantities
tfisfi.oarWltVe are told the processes of paper-making
id. per lb. higher than that of English paper of cor-
responding quality, apart from the duty.
isnay,'
America
merica are far superior to ours. We can only
the export of French rags was to be removed. We
now find that, in its stead, there is to be an export
duty of an amount atthepresenttime unknown, but
ht
he
emanufacturedw protective
are
denied
access,
" 7. We have been told that the prohibitioninA m erica
ofis
which possibly may be tantamount to a prohibi-
tion. There are in nearly all countries prohibitions
on the export of our raw materials or export
deuttliteisonupwointhtfhoermeigenqmuiavnaolefnatottoorersfro, from
wldh.osteo
mar-
ketsl. d.
proposed to expose us to an unfair and ruinous com-
petition it
while is
a now
thew
policy of other countries.
same time our Government willgive ffect to and
" London, March 14."
perpetuateer lb.for
a materialst