The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-25 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Yesterday morning the entire battalion of the
Royal Marine Light Infantry at head-quarters,
Chatham, were drawn up under the command of
Lieut.-Colonel W. H. March, for the purpose of
hearing read the proceedings of a district court-
martial which recently assembled at Chatham for
the trial of Private Frederick Wyatt, on a charge
of desertion under very aggravated circumstances.
The prisoner, who belonged to the Chatham divi-
sion, was stationed at Plymouth, where he de-
serted, and immediately afterwards enlisted into the
29th Foot, receiving the bounty, and thereby de-
frauding the Government. On being sent to
Chatham to join his depot he gave himself up as a
deserter, alleging that his only reason for desert-
ing at Plymouth was his desire to get back to
Chatham. For this offence the Court sentenced
the prisoner to be branded on the body with the
letter " D," and further to be imprisoned in Fort
Clarence for 112 days ; in addition to which he is
to be placed under stoppages until the sum of £4
Os. 41-1, of which he defrauded the Government,
is made good. The prisoner is a man of bad charac-
ter, and has once before been punished for desert ion.
In consequence of the present system of clothing
the troops having been found satisfactory, the Lords
of the Admiralty have decided on adopting a simi-
lar plan for clothing the seamen at the various
ports, the article's required being made up by the
contractors. The contract for supplying clothes to
the seamen attached to the ordinary and the other
vessels of war at Chatham was yesterday given to
Messrs. Marks, the army contractors at Chatham.
By the new arrangement not only will a great
saving be effected in this branch of the naval ex-
penditure, but, the contracts being put t o competi-
tion, the seamen will be furnished with a better
description of clothing than heretofore.
The recent visits of inspection made to the bar-
racks and hospitals at Chatham Garrison by Major-
General Peel and the Commissioners for inquiring
into the state of the hospitals and barracks in
England have been productive of a vast amount
of good, and several important improvements,
which will, undoubtedly, prove of great benefit to
the soldier, have already been the result of the in-
quiries then instituted. On the Commissioners
inspecting the barrack-rooms, at Chatham Barracks
it was found that, although means were taken to
air the rooms during the day, yet a proper system
of ventilating them during the night was utterly
wanting. The same defects were found to prevail
at Brompton Barracks, occupied by the Royal
Engineers; at the Hut Barracks, where the troops
of the Line are quartered ; and at the Casemate
Barracks, occupied chiefly by the sick and wounded
troops who have arrived from India and the colo-
nies. The result has exhibited itself from time to
time in an unusually large percentage of sickness
among the soldiers, especially during the hot sum-
mer months, while occasionally epidemic diseases,
chiefly small-pox and measles, have broken out
among the troops. It was at first considered that
the overcrowding of the troops in the barrack-
rooms was the chief cause of the sickness, and steps
were immediately taken by the authorities at
Chatham to reduce the number of men in each
room, and a camp of several hundred men was
formed at some distance from the barracks. But
the main evil was the want of proper mean of ven-
tilation. This defect was brought under the notice
of General Peel during his visit to Chatham by the
Commissioners, and the result has been that orders
have been given for a thorough ventilation of each
of the barrack-rooms at the several barracks of that
garrison. The plan proposed has received the
sanction of the War Department, and Messrs.
Foord, of Rochester, have been employed to erect
the necessary apparatus under the direction of Col.
Williams. The contrivance for effecting the ven-
tilation of the barrack-rooms, although exceedingly
simple, has already been found to answer most
satisfactorily. At the side of each fireplace a large
square wooden shaft is erected, running from the
ceiling of the room to a point clear of the outside
of the roof. This shaft is sufficiently large to
carry off in a powerful current all the impure
air engendered in the barrack-room, and its capa-
city gives an average of eight square inches to
each occupant of the room. In order to obtain a
supply of fresh air to each room incisions are made
in the outer walls, which are then fitted with the
ventilating irons, placed on a slight angle, and co-
vered with perforated zinc. The advantages of
this plan are that, although a current of cold air
rushes in to supply the place of that carried off yet
the persons in the room are not in the least incon-
venienced, as the angle by which it is admitted
prevents its pouring down on the heads of those
below. The rooms on each floor will be supplied
with a separate shaft; which will all communicate
with a square apparatus on the roof. Experiments
were yesterday made with the new ventilators,
which were found to work very satisfactorily. It
is believed that the same system will be generally
adopted throughout England.
Lieut.-Gen. J. Coryton, R.M., is to receive the
good service pension vacant by the death of Gen.
Parke • Col. A. Anderson, R.M., is to receive the
field-officer's good service pension vacant by the
promotion of Col. Brown, R.M.
Orders have been received at the head-quarters of
the Royal Engineer establishment, Chatham, for
the 30th (Capt. W. H. Noble's) Company of Royal
Engineers to proceed on Monday next to Shorn-
cliffe, for the purpose of relieving the 3d (Major C.
H. Sedley's) Company, which, it is understood, will
shortly be sent to India.