The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-06 00:00:00

Naval and XiMar.? Intelligence,

The Commander-in-Chief has approved the an-
nexed arrangements in connection with the troops
at Colchester :—Lieut. Wcstropp, 41st Regiment,
to proceed from the depot to the service companies ;
Capt. Metcalf, 32d Regiment, to join the service
companies in the Mauritius; Capt. Clery, 32d
Regiment, to join the depot ; and Sergt. Donnellan,
100th Regiment, to be drill instructor to the Ist
battalion North Yorkshire Volunteers. Brevet-
Major Edmonstoune, 30th Regiment, has been ap- '
pointed president of the Garrison Sanitary Commit-
tee, vice Major Jones, Bth depot battalion, relieved.
Lieut. Symes, 91th Regiment, has proceeded to
Landguarcl Fort, Harwich, to assume the duties of
acting adjt. and quartermaster at that station, vice
Lieut. Richardson, 36th Regiment. Lieut. Sprout,
is authorised to proceed to Walton, Suffolk,
for the purpose of superintending the gun practice
of the Suffolk Artillery Volunteers.
Sir John Pakington, Secretary of State for IVar,
accompanied by Capt. Galton, C. 8., Royal Engi-
neers, Permanent Assistant-Secretary ; Rear-Ad-
miral Caffin, C. 8., Director-General of Naval
Stores ; and Major-Gen. St. George, C. 8., R.A.,
Director of Ordnance, yesterday went down to
Woolwich, and made an inspection of the depart-
ments of the Royal Arsenal. On account of the
very unfavourable weather they drove down in Sir
John's private carriage, and arrived at the Arsenal
at half-past 11 a.m., an hour beyond the time ap-
pointed. They were officially received by Col. Boxer,
Capt. Majendie, Col. Campbell, R.A., Capt. Molony,
Mr. Fraser, C.E., Col. Clerk, R.A., Capt. Close,
Capt. Gordon, C. 8., Capt. Duff, R.E., and others,
who were all in regimental uniform. The whole
party entered the Select Committee offices, where
they were received by Brigadier-Gen. Lefroy (pre-
sident), and after a short conference they proceeded
to the Royal gun factories and witnessed the manu-
facture of various portions of the Fraser gun, re-
cently introduced as the new service gun for sea and
land use. The whole tarty manifested a great de-
sire to learn the entire process by which so impor-
tant an economy had been effected in bringing out
the " cheap gun," which was explained in detail by
Col. Campbell and Mr. Fraser to their apparent
satisfaction. They were conducted from forge to
forge, at each of which they saw the various modes
which the sections and coils of the gun had to un-
dergo before being brought under the huge Nasmyth
hammer to be brought into proper shape ; and,
finally, they saw the method of welding the coils to
form the tube, and transpose the whole into a solid
and combined mass, completing the gun in a rough
state, which was then left to cool. They thence
proceeded to the planing and boring mills, and wit-
nessed a comparison of the metals used in the old
and new guns, and inspected the various branches
of the Royal gun factories throughout. They next
entered the museum and saw the process of testing
a fragment of cast-iron by hydraulic machinery,
which broke at 14 tons to the square inch, being far
less endurable than the wrought iron now used in
gunmaking. It was ten minutes past one o'clock
when the party proceeded to the east end of the ship-
ping wharf and inspected the old Horsfall gun, now
laid up as unfit for present use. They afterwards
visited the American Rod man raking gun, lying
under the shears in readiness for transport to Shoe-
buryness to go through a course of experiments, and
the reserve stores at the extremity of the arsenal,
containing guns of the modern construction of Sir
William Armstrong and others in present use, and
an abundant supply of Palliser and other shot
for issue. Proceeding onwards, they passed through
the nail and harness and saddlery stores, where their
attention was arrested by a stock of new harness and
val ions improvements which had been recently in-
troduced, and were detailed by Capt. Fenn, the su-
perintendent. Descending from the stores, they en-
tered the chemical branch, where they inspected one
of the new torpedoes invented by the department
for destroying an enemy's ship, which it was shown
would explode by the slightest contact. They pro-
ceeded to the private apartm3nts of Col. Campbell,
superintendent of the Royal Gun Factories, where
they were entertained at lw►cheon. Sir John after-
wards expressed a desire to go through the remainder
of the departments in order to make himself ac-
quainted with the subjects which would be discussed
in the house to-night during the passing of vote 13
—the estimates for the manufacturing departments
of the army. They then proceeded to the machinery
long room of the laboratory, in which department
3,800 persons are now employed. Leaving it, they
entered the Boxer cartridge factory, in which 1,700
persons, male and female, are employed. Sir John
expressed his admiration at the celerity with which
the manufacture of the new cartridge is carried out
and completed for use, upwards of 300,000 being
turned out per day. They next entered the shell
foundry, and witnessed the manufacture of the Pal-
liser chill shot. On entering they examined a variety
of the Boxer and other solid shot, which had been
broken for the purpose of exhibiting the quality of
metals of which they are composed and the manner
of fracture. Several of the 8-inch, 10-inch, and 12-
inch Palliser shot were brought from the mould and
turned out for the Secretary of State's inspection,
and appeared to elicit his unqualified commendation.
500 of these shot, it was stated, are produced per
day at present, and in a few days, when the plant is
all in order, an additional 100 to 150 will be cast and
prepared for use. They afterwards went to the old
steam saw mills in the royal carriage department, and
passed through the new wheeler's shops and timber
stores, in which the half-wrought work is left to
dry, consisting of spokes, stocks, and other portions
of wheels and saddletrees, &c. They then entered
the various branches of the old carriage square, now
converted into sniithcries and shops, and witnessed
the rolling of scrap iron into racers for platforms,
and saw the method of stamping the trucks into
shape which is now used, instead of the old system
of casting, which was not sufficiently durable for the
present heavy guns. They also witnessed the new
process of cutting an inch slab of iron with the band
saw. Col. Clerk, in answer to Sir John's questions,
stated that by reducing the speed there was less
damage to the saw than is usually occasioned at full
speed in the sawing wood. After visiting the re-
mainder of the department they proceeded to the
gun-mounting ground, where a 7-inch 61-ton gun
was mounted on one of the patent wrought-iron car-
riages. This was manoeuvred for Sir John's inspec-
tion. lle admitted the easy manner in which the
elevation and depression was effected by a single
gunner, and he left Woolwich soon after 5 o'clock
for London.

Yesterday Major-Gen. J. 0. Travers, C. 8., In-
spector-General of the corps of Royal Marines, at-
tended by Capt. J. M. Lennox, Aide-de-Camp,
arrived at Chatham for the purpose of commencing
the summer inspection of the officers and men of the
Chatham division of Royal Marine Light Infantry.
On arriving at head-quarters the Inspector. General
was received by Col. G. Lambrick, Aide-de-Camp
to the Queen, Commandant of the division, and the
other officers of the divisional Staff, the eight parade
companies being drawn up to await his arrival. After
inspecting the kits, arms, &c., of the members of
the companies, and also tfie recruits, Gen. Travers
witnessed the officers and non-commissioned officers
go through the sword drill, in which they ac-
quitted themselves very satisfacterily. The after-
noon was devoted by General Travers to the
inspection of the divisional schools, and also to the
inspection of the officers and men under instruction
at the gun and shed battery. A visit was also paid
to the Royal Marine Infirmary, at Melville Hospital,
which brought yesterday's inspection to a close.
Last evening Strausham was entertained at
dinner by the officers of the division, on which occa-
sion a number of the principal officers of the garri-
son were invited to meet him. The inspection will
be resumed to-day.
Yesterday afternoon the unarmoured screw war
steamer Myrmidon was successfully launched from
No. 6 building slip at Chatham dockyard, in the
presence of a large number of spectators. The
Myrmidon, which will form a useful addition to
that description of vessel, but few of which
have been recently built for the navy, was laid
down as far back as July, 1860, but when about
half completed the whole of the hands were
withdrawn from her, in consequence of the Admi-
ralty at that time discontinuing the construction