The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-31 00:00:00

CONCERT AT THE FLORAL HALL,

The first grand concert which has taken place in this
elegant building was given yesterday afternoon with great
success. EThe acoustic properties of, the hall aro in every
way satisfactory, those who ;were at the remote; end! of
the building hearing every note with distinctness ; and the
objections which had been raised with regard to the noise
of the traffic in Bow-street, were disposed of by loads of
straw, which, being properly distributed along the road,
completely deadened the noise. The only drawback to the
pleasure of the visitors was the heat and glare, which were
oppressive. The beams of the sun interfered so much with
the comfort of the audience, that many, towards
the close especially, removed their seats to shady
corners. We should recommend the adoption of a better
system of ventilation, and the introduction of coloured
blinds or curtains across the roof of the hall, if it is in-
tended for a pleasant place of summer resort. The decora-
tions were most tasteful, and the general appearance of the
hall when filled with a gaily dressed assemblage was very
brilliant. The whole of the performers belonged to Mr.
Gye's operatic corps ; and, the programme being princi-
pally composed of selections from the operas, there is little
need for criticism. The two fine overtures of " Der
Frieschutz" and " Zampa" were chosen for opening
the parts, and their rendering by Mr. Costa's
admirable band left little to be desired. Madame Grisi was
of course prominent among he vocalists, and was warmly
greeted• The duet from " Semiramide," which she sang
with Madame Didrie, was honoured by an encore. Madame
Csillag, the new prima donna, sang in the " Vepres Sici-
liennes," and took part in a trio from " Fidelio," in which
opera it may be remembered she made her debut. Madame
Miolan :Carvallho rendered some extremely difficult
variations upon the famous " Carnival de Venice"
with such wonderful brilliancy and skill that
the applause of the audience was enthusiastic. Signor
Mario was heard to advantage in the charming, though
hackneyed, serenade from " Don Pasquale," and Signori
Gardoni, Ronconi, and Faure took prominent parts. Alto-
gether the concert was a decided success, and this brilliant
inauguration has fully proved the capacity and suitability
of the new Floral Hall as a place of musical entertainment.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHIPBUILDING.

A lecture was delivered at the United Service
Institution yesterday afternoon by Mr. G. R.
Tovell, on an improved system of shipbuilding, by
which superior strength, capacity, and speed are
attained. Captain Fishbourne, RN., occupied the
chair.

The Lecturer, in introducing the subject to the
audience, said that he had been intimately con-
nected with ships for the last 40 years, as shipmas-
ter, shipowner, and ship insurer. He had paid
much attention to the behaviour of ships both
under sail and at anchor. Being convinced that
there was great room for improvement in the
form of ships, he had turned his attention to the
subject, and had aimed at obtaining a strong well-
conditioned seaworthy ship, with capacity enough
for carrying cargo to remunerate the owner,
and with speed to enable them to compete success-
fully with the ships of other nations. After much
reflection and observations on the forms of fish and
of waterfowl, he had adopted the salmon's head
and shoulders for the forepart of his model,
and the back part of the swan for the after body.
The advantages of these models had been retained
by the adoption of the principle of making every
section of the vessel a segment of a true circle, both
longitudinally and transversely. In this way they
had in combination the principle both of the arch
and the suspension-bridge, which rendered them
perfectly secure, whether raised by the waves either
at the centre or the ends. In this mode of building,
by breaking the line of separation of the heads and
heels of the frame timbers, greatly increased strength
was given, so much indeed that the frame of a vessel
built in this way was stronger than another
vessel when all the planking was finished. If a
vessel built on this plan should be cast ashore the
consequences were not likely to be ruinous, certainly
not so sudden, from the strength imparted by her
peculiar form. A 491 ton ship of this kind had
grounded on a sandbank, the tide had scoured a hole
on one side of her from eight to nine feet deep, into
which she had rolled without injury. Another of
like form, 100 feet long and 10 feet deep, had been
balanced prior to launching on a single block amid-
ships without harm. The hull being a segment of a
circle longitudinally, presents, as it were, the crown
of an arch to resist all outward pressure, and, if hung
by the ends, the principles of the suspension-bridge
come into play, and the midship is carried by them.
The advantages claimed for this system were
—unequalled strength, capacity of speed, saving
of material and labour, great simplicityof construe-
tion, sailing powers not lost by loading, but little
ballast required—stands well without any, very
little dunnage needed, and the easiest known form
to propel at high rates of speed in a sea way. As
an example of what speed could be obtained from
such vessels, he would instance the schooner
Margaret, of 108 tons register, actual tonnage 150,
as indicated by old measure 250 tons, or nearly
double her tonnage. Her ordinary speed with the
wind free was 15 miles, close hauled 10 to 11
miles, per hour. This same vessel had sailed
from Frith to the Nore light ship and back
in four hours and twenty minutes. The fastest
time on record of a yacht race over the same
ground was five hours and 39 minutes. Another
vessel constructed on this principle, the Laughing
Water, of 491 tons register, took out to Hobart
Town the following cargo :-104 tons weight, 16
tons liquid, 857 tons measurement ; total, 977 tons.
This vessel with the above cargo on board, exceeded
the rate of 20 miles per hour, and had now just
arrived with full cargo from China, while other
ships, which started from the same port a month
before, were still at sea.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving a vote of thanks to
the lecturer, expressed his belief of the value of
this principle of construction for merchant vessels,
but doubted whether there would be sufficient
buoyancy forward to enable a man-of•war to carry
her guns forward.

The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Mrs.
Herbert returned to town yesterday from passing the holi-
days at Wilton House, near Salisbury.
The daily increase of political distrust in Ger-
many, and on the Continent generally, keeps the rate of
money extremely low in all the principal cities, and tends
to promote remittanres to London. In Paris the supply is
large, at 3 per cent., although the Bank rate is 31. At
Amsterdam and Brucsels, also, 3 per cent. is the highest
charge. At Hamburg the rate is only 1:-1, and at Frank-
fort it is scarcely possible to find employment for any amount
even at 1 per cent.

A Parliamentary return, issued yesterday morn-
ing shows the total amount of the public debt of India to be
£66,082,031. Of this £384,936 bears interest ranging from
6 1 o 10 per cent., £24,738,199 bears 5 per cent., £373,030
41 per cent., £32,908,923 4 per sent., and £86,820 31 per
cent. The remaining £7,590,123 consists of miscelloneous
floating liabilities. The proportion registerel in England
stood on the Ist inst. at £6,382,342.

ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS; REGENT'S-PARK.—
The first general fete of tho season took place in these gar-
dens yesterday. Now that London, like a big boy, is daily
growing out of bounds, and streets and houses cover the
ground where a years ago children hunted rabbits or
plucked primroses, it =is-very-pleasant and cheering to find
some few spots like our parks and public gardens preserved
to the honour of Flora, and where Londoners can see a live
tree or blade of grass. The Botanic Gardens are remark-
able for their happy situation, for, being ix the centre of
the park, they are preserved from the near approach of
buildings, and appear as if in the midst of fields miles away
from any town, and when once through the gates it is
scarcely possible to believe oneself within five minutes of
busy London. This proximity to town is highly appre-
ciated by the public, for we hear that above 2,000 subscribers
are now on the hooks, and this number is daily increasing.
On every-day mornings groups of lady subscribers may be
seen with book or work in hand lolling under the trees as if
in their private gardens; but yesterday was a day net for
book nor work but for show. To see and be seen was the
order of the day, and no doubt that half the attraction was
the gay crowd of fashionables that thronged the lawns.
The orchids attracted, as usual, the first attention, not only
from the size of the plants, but their general healthy ap-
pearance. One named arpophyllum gigantum was said to
be very rare and well flowered. The larger masses of
colour were made up of pelargoniums and azaleas, and the
corner banks in the marquee filled with choicer, though
smaller plants and ferns. The bands of the two regiments
of Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards enlivened the
scene by their excellent• performance, and altogether tho
crowd of fashionables seemed highly delighted. About
12,000 visitors were in the gardens at one time.

LOANS TO IRELAND.—The annual account ofthe
Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, which has been
issued, shows that since the commencement of the last re!gn
there has been advanced for arterial drainage, relief works,
and other public works in Ireland the sum o £3,408,889 out
of the public funds. Of this amount the sum of £907,467
has been remitted by authority of Act of Parliament, there
has been repaid into the Exchequer X 1,173,691, and there
remains due the sum of £1,325,741, with £202,597 for in-
terest. The full amount authorised has not yet been issued,
and in the last year advances to the extent of £96,625 were
made. The repayments in that year amounted to £160,506.

The Memorial (11 Aix gives an account of a dread-
ful tragedy which has just occurred at a farmhouse near
that town, inhabited by a farmer, named Decome, and his
son. The latter, a man of sullen temper, was married about
three months since, and very soon- after became extremely
jealous of his wife, whom he unjustly accused of too great
intimacy with his father's shepherd, a man named Roche.
Three days since he happened to see his wife and i:oche
talking together near a wall, and the man drew a pail of
water for her. On entering the house at supper•time
Decome told his father, in his wife's presence, that he was
convinced of her infidelity. The woman burst into tears,
protested her innocence, and retired to her room, whither
she was followed by her husband, who seized a double-bar-
relled gun, and attempted to shoot her. The wife, however,
'struggled so vigorously that she got out of.the room. De-
come then went down stairs:with the gun, and seeirg
Roche at supper, shot him through the heart with ono
barrel, and immediately blew out his own :brains with
the other.