The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-09 00:00:00

T.ONDON STREET REFORM SOCIETY,
- 4
PRESIDENT
. .

Just published, leap. Bvo., cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d.,
LONDON SELF-GOVERNED,
By Sir VirILLIAII FRASER, Bart., 111. A , F.S.A.
London : Francis llarvey, 4, St. James'r—street.

CONTRACT FOR BEECH WEDGES.
Contract Department, Admiralty, Somerset
House, 14th Dec, 1866.
THE COMMISSIONERS for EXECUTING
the OFFICE of LORD HIGH ADMIRAL of the
UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and IRE-
LAND, Do hereby give NOTICE, that on TUESDAY,
the Bth January next, at Two o'Clock, they will be ready
to treat with such Persons as may be willing to Contract
for supplying Her Majesty's Dockyard at Portsmouth with
Hewed Wedges of Beech, under a Contract for twelve
calendar months certain, and further until the expiration
of three calendar months' warning.
The average annual consumption, together with a Form
of the Tender and Conditions of Contract, may be seen in
the Lobby of the Storekeeper-General's Department,
Admiralty, Somerset House. No Tender will be received
after Two o'Clock on the day of Treaty, nor will any be
noticed unless the Party attends, or an Agent for him duly
authorised in writing.
Every Tender must be addressed to the Secretttry of the
Admiralty, and boar in the left-hand corner the words
" Tender for Beech Wedges ;" and must also be delivered
at the Department of the Storekeeper-General, Admiralty,
Somerset House, accompanied, by a Letter signed by two
responsible persons, engaging to become bound with the
Person tendering in the sum of £2OO for the due perfor-
inatee of the Contract.

By Order,
ANTONIO BRAY,
Registrar of Contracts and Public
Securities.

CONTRACT FOR FRESH OX BEEF AND VEGE-
TABLES AT FOYNES.
CONTRACT DEPARTMENT, ADMIRALTY.
Somerset House, 27th December, 1866.
THE COMMISSIONERS for EXECUTING
IL the OFFICE of LORD HIGH ADMIRAL of the
UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and IRE-
LAND do hereby Give Notice, that on Tuesday, the 15th
January next, at Twelve o'clock at Noon, they will be
ready to treat with such persons as may be willing to con-
tract for supplying all such quantities of
FRESH OX BEEF and VEGETABLES,
for the use of her Majesty's ships and vessels at Foynes as
may be demandelfrom the 15th January to the 30th June,
1867, both days included.
The Contractor is to supply good fat well-fed Ox Beef,
as no Heifer meat will be admitted.
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty reserve to
themselves an unlimited power of selection in accepting
the Tenders.
Tenders must be made at rates per 1001 b., and no atten-
tion will be paid to any offers not so made.
The Contractor, in claiming payment for the supplies, is
to make out his invoices in pounds at per 1001 b.
The Contractor to reside on the spot, or to have an
agent resident there. If non-resident, the name and ad-
dress of the agent must be inserted in the Tender.
No Tender will be received after Noon on the day of
treaty, and it will not be required that the party tendering,
or an agent on his behalf, should attend at the Office on
the day of,Contract, as the result of the offer received from
each person will be communicated to him and his proposed
sureties in writing.
Every Tender must be addressed to the Secretary of the
Admiralty, and must also be delivered at the department
of the Comptroller of Victualling, Admiralty, Somerset
House, signed by two responsible persons, engaging to
become bound with the person tendering in the sum of
£3OO for the due performance of the Contract for Fresh Ox
Beef, and £lOO for the Contract for Vegetables.
The Contractor to pay half the amount of the stamps on
the Contracts and Bonds.
By order, ANTONIO BRADY,
Registrar of Contracts and Public Securities.

TOG U N MA K E R S and Others.
The SECRETARY of STATE for WAR is desirous of
receiving PROPOSALS from Gunmakers and Others for
BREECH-LOADING RIFLES, either repeating or not
repeating, which may replace the present Service Rifles in
future manufacture.

IL
The following are the conditions considered essential in
military non-repeating Rifles:—

WIGHT.
Not to oxceed 91b. soz. witEhout bayonet.
n. LENGTH.
To be 51 inches, with short stock, measured from the
hollow of the butt-plate to muzzle.
c. WEIGHT OF AMMUNITION MADE UP.
Must not exceed 6lb. 4oz. for sixty rounds as packed for
service.

D. CARTRIDGES.
Must carry nick own ignition.
E. SIGHTS.
fixed
The
ordi foresight must be such as to admit of a bayonet
according to the present system.
M F. STOCK.
blast be such as to carry a light metal cleaning,,rod, and
allow a sling to be used.

G. .
Must not exceed that of RECOIL
the Enfield Rifle by more than
10 per cent

m. THE ARM AS A WHOLE.
Must be as little liable to injuryhy long-continued firing,
rough usage, and exposure, as the naval rifles converted to
breech-loaders on the Snider system. To be as capable,
also, of being used without accident by imperfectly trained
men, and of being manufactured in quantities and of uni-
form quality.
t. THE AMMUNITION AS A WHOLE.
Must be as little liable to injury by rough usage, damp,
and exposure in all climates, as the Boxer cartridge for
Snider's converted Enfield rifle—also as little liable to acci-
dental explosion as the same cartridge, and as capable of
being manufactured in large quantities, and of uniform
quality. K. CALIBRE.
Optional.
L. THE TWIST AND FORM OF GROOVE.
Optional.
Optional. M. THE LOOS.

N. RAPIDITY OF FIRE.
Capable of firing at least 12 rounds per minute, 'without
aiming, the cartridges being arranged on a table.
o. ACCURACY WHEN FIRED FROM A FIXED REST.
The arm must give a mean figure of merit of not more
than 3Gin. at 1,000 yards, 30in. at 800 yards, 12in. at 500,
and bin. at 300.
The mean to be taken upon at least five targets of twenty
pilots each.

r. TRAJECTORY.
Not to require at 500 yards an elevation of more than 1
deg. 30 min.

Q FOULIN
The shooting not to. deteriorate G.
more than 20 per eon,
at 1,000 yards after firing 250 rounds.

n. .
The mean penetration of five shots not to be less than
that of the present service muzzle-loading Enfieldle--
viz., 12 half-inch elm planks, which have been soaked 48
hours in water.
Distance 30 yards.

- s. LBRICATN.
Wax on bullets is indiaUrsaiable, IO
but any other lubricant
11IV be supemdded or applied to the cartridge, if thought
necessary by the competitor.

No arms will be received wIII ithotit the usual proof marks.
Specifications, and drawings of the methods proposed,
stating the probable cost per arm, and accompanied by a
finished specimen arm, with 20 rounds of suitable ammu-
nition, should be sent to the "Director of Ordnance, War
Office Pall-mall," on or before the 30th March, 1867.
The specifications and specimen arms will be considered
by the Ordnance Select Committee and its associate mem-
bers, who will be selected by the Secretary of State for
War and who will, after firing the 20 preliminary rounds,
select and recommend for further trial such of the systems
as may appear to them sufficiently promising, rejecting all
such as may not be considered to offer sufficient merits to
warrant their being included in the competition, the con-
ditions of which aro stated in this advertisement.
Each accepted competitor will then be required to furnish
for experiment, at Woolwich, six arms in strict conformity
to the specimen arm submitted, with 1,000 rounds of am-
munition per arm, within four months after date of de-
committeemn Each competitor will be required to disclose to the
the exact nature of the lubrication he may em-
ploy. A sum of £3OO will be paid to each of the accepted
competitors, to cover the expense of the six rifles, and of
the supply of ammunition requi re d.
The Secretary of State offers a reward of £l,OOO for the
arm which, on combination of all qualities, is considered
by the committee to be the best submitted.
A second reward of £6OO for the arm which, while at-
taining a satisfactory degree of excellence in other particu-
lars, is selected for merit in respect to its breech mechanism.
A third reward of £4OO for the best cartridge. The qua-
ities which will be principally taken into consideration in
awarding this prize will be economy of manufacture, power
of sustaining rough usage, freedom from deterioration in
various climates, and general serviceability.
The shooting qualities of the cartridge must be fair; but
as they may depend upon the rifling of the arm with which
the cartridgo is associated, they will not be so much con-
sidered as those above-mentioned.
It is clearly to be understood that under no circumstances
will a competitor bo entitled to more than one prize; but
such prizo will be irrespective of any reward which may be
service.
given to the inventor rm finally adopted into the

MAGAZINE AND REPEATING ARMS.
Magazine and
innsßepea Arms for Infantry will be re-
eived and examined manner similar to the Breech-
loading Rifles. They must not bo less in length than 48
riches, including the stock.
The limit of weight for these arms is fixed at 9ilb. ex-
elusive of the charges in the magazine.
It is indispensable that the arms bo made to take a
bayonet.

The Secretary of State offers a reward of 300 for the best
Magazine or Repealing Ann produced that fulfils the above
conditions; and in the absence of experience does not at
Present define the standard of accuracy or other conditions
to be fulfilled before such an arm can be adopted.
Those Magazine orßepeatingArms, which are accepted
for further trial, will be paid for at the rate of £6O each.
This sum is to include 1,000 rounds of ammunition per
arm,

The Secrets V.
novelty produced in answer to this advertisement shall be
adopted into the service without proper acknowledgment,
and that thd name of the individual with whom it origi-
nates shall be recorded in connection with it.
if the rifle to which the first prize is awarded is adopted
into the fit3llloo, it will bear the inventor's name.
J. ST. GEORGE, Major-General, Director
of Ordnance
War Oface, Oct. 22 1865

Sir WILLIAM FRASEIi,Iart., M.A., F.S.A.
On the 13th of June, 1865, it was admitted unanimously in
the House of Commons that the condition of London, as
regards Paving, Lighting, and Cleansing, was disgraceful.
No improvement has taken place.
The Traffic of London becomes every day more un-
manageable. The Public Vehicles are inferior to those of
Provincial and Continental Cities.
This Society has been formed to stimulate public atten-
tion ; to collect, condense, and make known facts ; to
point out defects in the law ; to enforce provisions at
present neglected; and to watch Bills introduced into Par-
liament on these subjects.
The London Street Reform Society is not pledged to
support any specific change in the Government of the
Metropolis.

Those who may wish to join the Society are requested
to write to J. S. Maly, Esq., Hon. Sec. L.S.R.S., 88, St.
James's-street, S. \V.