The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-13 00:00:00

THE JAPANESE PRINCE.

The Japanese Prince, Tokugawa Mimbutaiho,
who arrived at Portsmouth on Wednesday, from
London, on a visit to the port and arsenal, made a
long inspection yesterday of the ships of war in the
harbour and of the dockyard.
The Priace, accompanied by Major Edwards,
R.E., and M. von Siebold, interpreter, and attended
by his suite, arrived at the dockyard entrance
shortly before 11 a.m., where he was received by
Admirals Sir T. Pasley and G. G. Wellesley, C. 8.,
Flag-Captain Hon. F. B. Seymour, C.B A.D.C.
to the Queen ; Flag-Lieut. Boger, and other officers
the Japanese standard being at the same time run

up at the main royal masthead of the Port Admi-
ral's flagship, under Royal salutes from her ➢ia-
jesty's ships Victory, Duke of Wellington, and St.

Vincent. The Serapis screw Indian troopship,
Capt. Soady, was the first object selected in the
yard for the Prince's inspection. The magnificent
proportions of this noble troop transport, and the
luxurious completeness of all her fittings, were
highly appreciated. On leaving the Seraphs the
Prince proceeded to the King's:ttairs of the dock-
yard, where, with Admiral Pasley and the attendant
officers, he embarked in the Victory's barge and was
conveyed on board the Royal Sovereign turret-ship,
at her moorings up the harbour. Some time was
spent on board this vessel in exhihitiug to the Prince
the mode of working the guns and turrets iu action.
The third turret was manned and revolved to diffe-
rent angles of fire with bulwarks.down, the loading
motions (in blank of course) and all parts of the
drill being gone through. On leaving the Royal
Sovereign the Prince was conveyed on board the
gunnery ships Excellent an 1 Calcutta, C.Aptain A.
C. 8., and here a stay was made of consider-
ably upwards of an hour, the Prince exhibiting
much interest as the various description of ship's
ordnance, from the 12-tog rifle on its costly iron
carriage and slide, down to the latest converted

Palliser," were explained to him by the offiers of

the gunnery establishment. Batteries were manned,
and heavy guns were whirled about in drill to the
word of command in a wonderful and thoroughly
excellent manner. Some very effective shell firing
was made from the port broadside of the Excellent
at 1,200 yards range, in independent firing and in
volleys. In all cases the shells burst beautifully
right on the faces of the targets. The shells fired
in volleys from the big guns burst in clusters with
grand effect, sending up a vast cloud of gas, which
glittered and changed in prismatic hues under the
rays of a bright sun. A few rockets fired at a
target of 1,000 yards range with some shots from
light guns—in both cases from light rafts moored
under the ship's bows, and a small torpedo experi-
ment brought the Prince's visit to the Excellent's
gunnery establishment to a close. On leaving the
Excellent the Prince again lauded at the King's
Stairs, and proceeded to the Admiralty House, the
official residence of Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley,
where he partook of luncheon.
After luncheon the Prince, accompanied by the
same officials as during the forenoon, made a tour
of the dockyard, and went. on board the armour-
plated hydraulic propelled gun vessel Waterwitch,
Commander P. Sharp, now under repairs in the
ship basin ; the armour-plated iron turret-ship
Scorpion, preparing for commission, and other
vessels; afterwards visiting the woodtnills, where
Brunel's wonderful block-making machinery was
seen at work in all its marvellous efficiency and ac-
curacy of motion. The steam factory with its noble
collection of machinery was visited, and thence to
the armour-plate workshop was but a natural
sequence. Here, with huge armour-plates gripped
by machines of immense power and novel form, the
whole process of drilling, bending, and otherwise
preparing the armour plates for the sides of our
ships of war was fully illustrated and explained
by the aid of Major Edwards and M. You Siebold.
From the armour-plate shop a walk round the north
side of the steam basin gave a view of her Majesty's
yacht Osborne clearing out for further survey and
repairs, of several gunboats now preparing for com-
mission, and of the iron frigate Hector, 800-horse
power, in dock, and being brought forward also for
commission. The last part of the dockyard visited
by the Prince was the great iron foundry, and
there he stayed sufficiently long to see several lots
of molten iron drawn off from the cupola furnaces
and poured into a row of large moulds, which stood
in readiness for the operation.

On leaving the Serapis and the Excellent, and on
several other occasions through the day, the Prince
expressed, through M. von Siebold, his gratification
at the courtesy and attention shown to him. It
may also be observed here that every official who
came in personal contact with the young Prince on
board any of the ships or in the workshops of the
yard was much impressed by his evident keen intel •
ligence, and the shrewdness and pertinence of the
many inquiries made by him through his interpreter.
From the dockyard, after taking leave of Admi-
rals Sir Thomas Pasley and I'Vellesley, the Prince
returned to his hotel at Southsea.

The Fire Queen, steam yacht, Staff Commander
Paul, is ordered to have her steam up in Portsmouth
harbour by 9 .a.m. to-day for the service of the
Prince, if required. It was, however, understood to
be quite uncertain whether he would embark this
morning on board- the, Fire Queen, probably for a
short visit to Southampton--water, visit the camp at
Aldershott, or return direct to London.

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The adjourned inquest on the surtercrs by the
above disastrous explosion w is resum .ed at the New
Inn, Dentyprill, yesterday. :Mr. migh, G,vern-
ment inspector of mines of the so. th-w estern dis-
trict, was present, in ace Rdance with nstructioas
from the Secretary of State, who desp.dched him to
the scene of the catastrophe as soon as he had re-
ceived official in telligmce of the disaptas, . Mr. Wales,
the Government inspector of mine; for the South
Wales district, was also present. t( watch the pro-
ceedings on behalf of Government. Two delegates
from the National Mining Association of the North
of England were also in attendance to represent the
widows and orphans of the deceased mea.
The first witness examined was William Walters,
the only overman employed in. the pit, where he
had been for about three years. His duty was to
visit the pit the first thing in the morning, and to
remain there until the men arrived to work. He
had always a fireman with him in the pit. There
were three day firemen, and one night fireman.
The firemen had to report to him the state of the
pit. He always saw the night firemen every morn-
ing in going: down the pit about six o'clock. Ile
believed that Mr. .Williams, the manager, kept
a register of the men who worked is the
pit. About 300 were generally employed.
Some 30, 40, or 53 . were engaged at
work during the night. The witness proceeded
at great length to explain technical details in re-
gard to the pit. Some admissions mlde by the wit-
ness caused great surprise. In reply to the coroner
he admitted, after considerable hesitation, that he
did not know what a thernforneter or barometer was.
He believed that the deceased manager had an
anemometer, or at any rate something like a box.
The coroner endeavoured to explain to the wit-
ness the nature of these instruments. The over-

imitted that he never saw anything like
a weatherglass in the pit. The witness explained
the reason why he had not been in the colliery on
the fatal day. He was unwell, some days confined
to his bed and under medical treatment. He lived
near the pit and heard the two explosions, and
rushed to the mouth of the pit immediately, and
ordered the engine man to work the carriage up and
down, so as to move the air. He ordered the fan
to be opened so as to facilitate the descent. The
explosions resembled the report of thunder. lie
was so horrified at the time that he could not give
a minute account of what he did or said on the
occasion. On the Tuesday that he was ill one of the
firemen did report to him that there was an accumu-
lation of gas in some portions of the pit, and wit-
ness pointed out in the plans of the colliery the
headings to which he referred. He had found that
a " blower" or large escape of gas had occurred
about seven days previous to the accident on the
north side of the Rhondda district. 'Water had
accumulated in some portions of the pit to a depth
of 18in. He took measures to drain away the
water. Thomas James, one of the firemen, had
reported the presence of gas in the places I
which the witness indicated on the map—No 8
heading, Dutfryn branch of the workings. The gas
had accumulated in consequence of a fall in the air-
way, which caused the air to be partially obstructed.
The place was cleared in three or four days. Ile
hid not observed any gas since. The defect was
remedied as soon as possible. He got rid of the gas
by " screening" the air. That was done by opening
one canvas door and shutting another.

The Coroner here remarked that he considered
experiments of that kind very risky.
The witness stated that he had done so in other
pits with success. He felt assured that there was no
danw.r in doing so. Ile had seen gas iu some of
the h..adings about four or five weeks before the
explosion. The witness proceeded to describe all
the " blowers" that he had seen in the pit. The
remainder of the evidence referred to the presence
of gas in the pit on various occasions. The witness
insisted that the ventilation was generally good,
and that no complaints bad been made of any
defeets iu that respect.
The inquest will be resumed this day.