The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-20 00:00:00

THE IVAT/Y.

The squadron ordered to assemble at Spithead
for the purpose of convoying his Royal Highness
the Prince 'of Wales across the Atlantic, on his visit
to Canada, will consist of the Hero, 91, screw, 600
horse power, Capt. George H. Seymour, who Will
hoist his broad pendant as Commodore of the
Squadron •, the Ariadne, 26, screw, 800 horse power,
Capt. E. W. Vansittart ; the Flying Fish, 6, screw,
350 horse power, Commander Charles W. Hope ;
and the Royal paddle yacht Osborne, 430 horse
Power, nominal, Master-Commander George H. K.
Bower. His Royal Highness will take his passage
out and home in the Hero, one of the finest 91-gun
ships in her Majesty's navy. The Osborne will be
retained for services on the coasts arid rivers of
Canada during the stay of his Royal Highness in
that colony.
The'rifled slepartment belonging to the gun fac-
tories in Woolwich A-senal, under the superinten-
dence of Mr: Rohn Anderson, last week employed
upwards of-3,000. artisans and labourers. The
amount paid last Friday as wages to those op
Weekly salaries amounted to £2,850. Some addi-
tional experiments with the Armstrong gun, in
competition with Mr. Whitworth's invention, are
about to take place at Shoeburyness, in presence of
the select committee of Woolwich Arnim'. A largo
amount of ammunition and mixed stores is ordered
• to be delivered for that purpose.
An extra supply of war stores, shot, shell, and
ammunition for the use of the Armstrong batteries
despatched to China, will leave Woolwich to-day
for Southampton, to be forwarded by the mail
steamers, via Alexandria and Suez, to Hong-Kong.
The following vessels have been chartered to ship
war stores from the Military Store Department at
Woolwich :—The Royalist, Ellen, Bohemia, Spar-
tan, Banshee, Art Union, Parkfield, Early Morn,
and George Durkee.
The shipwrights department in Woolwich Dock-
yard has received instructions to prepare, without
delay, for laying down a new screw corvette of 21
guns under the shed vacated by the Barossa, and
of the same lines to be called the North Star.
Her Majesty's Royal paddle yacht Victoria and
Albert was yesterday placed in No. 8 dock at Ports-
mouth, to clean copper, B,:c.
The iron screw troopship Meg era, Commander
James Hunt, commenced masting under the sheers
alongside Portsmouth yard yesterday.
The target-ship Briton has been again towed up
Portsmouth harbour for practice from the Excel-
lent.
A frigate, supposed to be the screw steam-frigate
Ariadne, 26, Captain E. W. Vansittart, was outside
Plymouth Sound on Sunday evening:
The Havannah, 19, at Devonport, is to be appro-
priated to the use of a ragged school at Liverpool,
or some other outport.
The crew of the sailing sloop Arachne, 18, Corn-
Itander Montgomerie, are to be paid off at Ply-
mouth. She has been in commission since Octo-
ber, 1855.

Admiralty orders have been received at Chatham
dockyard fora considerable reduction in the num-
ber of hired mechanics and labourers now belong-
ing to that establishment at the end of the present
month.

Mr. John M'Cool, acting second-class assistant-
engineer, was yesterday appointed to the Cumber-
'and, for charge of the machinery of the Plover.

It is understood that the Bankruptcy Bill of the
Attorney-General will contain a provision to defeat the
the practice of English debtors escaping from their credi-
tors by a resort to the Scotch Courts. It will also provide
Tat in cases of private liquidation the assent must be ob-
Cned of three-fourths of the creditors, not merely in value
but also in number. The bill is expected to be in the hands
of the public in the course of a few days.
The London-Bankers have resolved, in compli-
luxe with the general wish of the mercantile body, to close
Ori Saturdays at three o'clock instead of four. The menio
rials addressed to them on the subject expressed a desire
that two should be the hour but it has been thought bet-
ter, in the first instance, to fix an intermediate time. The
toncurrence of the Bank of England has yet to be obtained,
at it is not expected that any objection will be raised by
that establishment. The new system will come into opera-
tion on 04t4rday, the 19th of May: