The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-01 00:00:00

WATERFORD AND LIMERICK.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
on Wednesday at Waterford ; Mr. Malcomson in
the chair.

The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, iu moving the adoption of the
report, referred to the increase during the past
half-year in their passenger traffic as peculiarly
gratifying at a time when the returns of nearly all
other lines showed a decrease. He attributed this
increase to the adoption of a more liberal policy
towards the public granting return tickets, and re-
garded it as corroboratve of the arguments of
those who held that a reduction of fares would be
followed by the corresponding increase of traffic.
The report was adopted and the dividend was de-
clared.

RAILWAY BILLS.
The Examiner, Mr. Pa'grave, sat yesterday, but
no railway Bills came before him. Two Referee
Courts sat, No.l presided over by Colonel Stewart,
and No. 2 by Mr. Basil Woodd. There was no
appearance in the following Bills :—The London,
Brighton, and South Coast ; the Crystal Palaeeand
East London High Level Junction ; the Great
Northern ; the Halifax and Ovenden Junction ;
and the Barnaldswick. The Surrey and Sussex
Junction, and the Idle and Shipley were to be
reported.

off the hatch he saw that the large case of mer-
chandise which he had placed the previous night
against the bullion cases had been removed from its
original position, disclosing the open space which
the two bullion cases had occupied. There are two
circumstances which go to strengthen the belief
that the robbery was committed after the hatches
were put on and locked. After 9 o'clock one of
crew coiled up the guy ropes attached to the crane
on board, and so left them on deck. These guy
ropes are employed for moving the crane from over
the hatch to over the steamer's side, so as to hoist
and lower goods. The guy ropes are never used for
hoisting goods up from the hold, but on Wednes-
day morning they were found uncoiled, and at one
part there was a kink, showing there had been a
heavy strain on it, such as would occur in lifting
the bullion cases out of the hold. Besides, the rope
is besmeared. with new paint, and on examining the
inner framework of the hatch, which has been newly
painted, there are marks where the paint is rubbed
off by the rope being drawn up against it. The
other circumstance is the disappearance of the empty
lighter from alongside the steamer about 2 o'clock
on Wednesday morning, and which there can be no
doubt was used for carrying off the booty. The

lighter belonged to a lighterman carrying on busi-
ness at Wapping, who brought it alongside the
steamers the previous night with a quantity of empty
cases to be shipped on board the Waterloo, and
finding they could not be taken on board for some

time he moored her to the steamer, telling the mate
he would remove the lighter next morning. The
empty cases were afterwards taken on board, and the
Custom-house officers have some recollection of
seeing the lighter alongside till two o'clock. After
that hour she was missed, and since then nothing
whatever has been heard of her. Mr. Superinten-
dent Evans, of the Thames police, with Inspectors
Pickman and Clerck, have caused both sides of the
river, both above and below bridge, to be searched,
but up to a late hour last night their efforts to dis-
cover the whereabouts of the lighter had not been
successful. A large reward has been offered by the
directors of the General Steam Navigation Company

to any one giving information that may lead to the
apprehension of the thieves.

Naval and Military Inteligence.

The following General Order, dated the Ist of
February, has been promulgated by the Adjutant-
General Lord William Paulet, by order of the Field
Marshal Commanding-in-Chief :
"1. The course of instruction in musketry' which was
introduced in the year 1854 having become thoroughly in-
corporated in the established system of drill for the British
army, and the troops having by constant careful training
and practice acquired an amount of skill in the use of the
rifle which was formerly the case only to a very limited ex-
tent, it has appeared to the Field-Marshal Commanding-
in-Chief that the time has arrived when the details of the
instruction might be modified and reduced without impair-
ing the efficiency of regiments, and without disturbing the
principles ou which the system, which has been attended
with such good results, was based.
"2. A Board of officers was accordingly assembled to in-
quire into the subject, and his Royal Highness having at-
tentively considered their report has finally approved of
the following revised regulations,which aro to be forthwith
adopted throughout the service.
"3. By these regulations distinct courses are provided
for the recruit and for the trained soldier; the lock in-
struction is considerably reduced ; the theoretical prin-
cipl3s are condensed, and the returns simplified as much
as it was poasiblo to do so without excluding ;information
which cannot be dispensed with.
" 4. In furtheranco, also, of the Field-Marshal Command_
ing-Ckief's desire to reduce the annual course for the trained
soldier, a rigid enforcement of the attendance of first-
class shots at the aiming and position drills will no longer
be required ; and old soldiers in the second period of service
will be excused (provided they continue efficient) from the
extra position and judging distance drills, which, instead
of being required to be executed weekly, as heretofore, will
henceforth be left more to the discretion of commanding
officers. . .

" 5. This relaxation of previous orders, however, is not
to be looked upon as encouraging the inference that his
Royal Highness does not consider these drills as essential
elements in the training of expert marksmen. On the
contrary, his Royal Highness will visit with his displea-
sure every case in which neglect to have them executed
froquoutly,' as directed by these revised regulations, shall
be brought to his notice.
" 6 The Field-Marshal Cemtuanding-in-Chief looks for
the zealous co-operation of officers of all ranks in carrying
out the regulations, now published, and trusts that the
modification which ho has approved in the system will not
be followed by any diminution in the ' figure of merit' of
the shooting of the army."
The first steps have been taken by the authorities
for carrying out the recommendations of the recent
Commission on Army Reorganisation by the reduc-
tion of certain regiments of the line, consisting of
two battalions, an order having yesterday been re-
ceived at Chatham Garrison, directing the transfer
of 30 non-commissioned officers and men of the
depot of the 2d battalion of the Bth (the King's)
Regiment to the let battalion, 40 non-commissioned
officers and men of the 2d battalion of the 14th
Regiment to the Ist battalion, and 40 non-commis-
sioned officers and men of the 2d battalion of the
15th Regiment to the Ist battalion. Some other
changes will also shortly be effected in other de-
partments of the army in accordance with the re-
commendations of the Commissioners.
A series of experiments were tried on Wednesday
at Tynemoutli with a newly-constructed gun-car-
riage, built by Sir W. J. Armstrong, at the Elswick
Ordnance Works, for garrison or casemate duty.
Gen. Lefroy and several members of the Select Ord-
nance Committee from Woolwich, and some foreign
military officers, were present. The gun used was
a 3001 b. shunt 9-inch gun, and the carriage, made
of malleable iron, was very strong. Sixteen rounds
were fired, but the carriage went through the expe-
riments without sustaining the least injury. .; Its
special feature seemed to be the substitution of a
wheel for the usual pivot, and the leverage is simple
and appears to be very difficult to throw out of gear.
Yesterday morning a detachment of the 2d bat-
talion Scots Fusilier Guards, consisting of two offi-
cers and 40 non-commissioned officers and men, un-
der command of Capt. Gascoyne, left Windsor by
the 7.45 a.m. Great Western train for Victoria Sta-
tion, Pimlico. In the afternoon a detachment of
the Ist battalion Scots Fusiliers, numbering three
officers and 133 men, arrived at Windsor by the same
railway, and took up their quarters in advance of
the main body of the battalion at the Sheet-street
Barracks. 'This morning, at a quarter to 10 o'clock,
the 2d battalion Scots Fusilier Guards, numbering
about 13 officers, 509 men, 74 women, 96 children,
and five officers, left the Sheet-street Barracks
and march to the Windsor station of the Great
"Western Railway, whence it proceeded by special
at ten o'clock, via Slough and Kensington, to the
Victoria Station, Pimlico, arriving at the latter
terminus at 11.20 a.m. The troops will take up
their quarters in the "Wellington, Kensington, and
Buckingham Palace Barracks. At ten o'clock to-
day the Ist battalion of the same regiment (Scots
Fusiliers), consisting of 14 officers, 533 men, 55
women, 78 children, and three horses, will leave
the Victoria Station, Pimlico, in a special train, and
arrive at Windsor, via the Great Western Railway,
at ten minutes past 11 c'clock. The Ist battalion
Scots Fusiliers, on reaching the station, will march
to the Sheet-street barracks, and occupy the quar-
ters vacated by the 2d battalion.
The first field-day of the season took place at
Aldershot yesterday. The division, -including the
Royal Engineers, Royal Engineer and Military
Trains, paraded on Eelmore•-hill at 11 o'clock. On
the arrival of Liartt—Gen. Sir James- Scarlett line
was formed, and the various regiments marched
past in slow and quick time, the cavalry and artil-
lery passing at a trot.
Detachments of the Ist, 2d, and 3d battalions of
the Grenadier Guards and Ist battalion Scots Fusi-
lier Guards, to the number of 12 officers and 371
non-commissioned officers and men, will arrive at
the camp at Aldershot this day for the annual course
of musketry. Fifteen women and 11 children ac-
company the detachments, which will be quartered
in I and K lines, North Camp.
No. 24 troop Military Train, at Aldershot, is held
in readiness to move to 'Woolwich, being relieved
by No. 9 troop from the latter station.
The 56th (West Essex) Regiment,
under the com-
mand of Col. Richard W. Lacy, arrived at Alder-
shotyesterday afternoon from Portland, Weymouth,
&c., one company of the regiment, from March-
wood, having arrived on Wednesday evening. The
strength marching in was 15 officers, 430 non-com-