The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

An Admiralty order has arrived at Sheerness to
send the Waterloo flagship round to Portsmouth
for the purpose of being converted into a screw
line-of-battle ship of two decks.
The Admiralty have for the present stopped the
entry of sea apprentices.. Large numbers of boys
are daily applying on board the Waterloo for entry.
In many instances a number of fine stout lads are
thrown on the parish for want of means to return
,to their homes.
The Formidable, 84 guns, Captain-Superintendent
J. C. Fitzgerald, guardship of ordinary at Sheer-
ness, is now fully equipped, and if needed for im-
mediate active service, would only require to be
manned and to have her ammunition and xictual-
ling stores stowed away. The Formidable is ad-
mitted to be the smartest-rigged line-of-battle ship
in the port.
On Thursday evening last Edward Coultrip and
g
John Hodge, established labourers, of 14s. per
week, the former having four years, and the latter
12 years' servitude, were stopped at the yard gate
by policeman Deveraux, and on being searched each
man had two long thin canvas bags full of copper
and metal. The bags are most ingeniously made,
so as to fit inside the leg parts of their kneeboots.
Coultrip's house was afterwards searched, and there
was found a quantity of canvas, fearnought flannel,
rope, roping twine, and metal, all being the pro-
perty of her Majesty. Nothing was found in
Hodge's house. The two men were yesterday
brought before Mr. J. K. Martyn, Master-Attendant
(Acting Superintendent) and after some preliminary
examination were remanded until Monday next.
Mr. Moron, who has obtained the contract for
reconstructing the leeward batteries at Sheerness,
has arrived, and the works are to be taken in hand
forthwith.

THE ARMY.

The second detachment of the corps of the Roya
Engineers under orders to proceed to British
Columbia, which left head-quarters, Chatham, on.
Thursday morning, pnabarked yesterday at South-
amvton, and will proceed by the overland route to
their destination. The officer in charge of the de-
tachment is Captain J. M. Grant, R.E. The re-
mainder of the expedition, to the number of 128
non-commissioned officers and men, under the com-
mand of Captain H. R. Luard, received orders
yesterday to embark at Gravesend, on Wednesday
next, on board the Thames City.
Lieut. F. Hime and a detachment of 30 non-com-
missioned officers and men of the Royal Engineers
received orders yesterday to leave Brompton Bar-
racks this morning for Southampton, where they
will embark on board the Indus steamer, and pro-
ceed overland to Calcutta, for the purpose of aug-
menting the 4th and 23d companies of Royal
Sappers and Miners now serving in India.
The Hon. Council of India have given notice that
tonnage will be required for the conveyance of the
following reinforcements of cavalry and infantry
troops, which the authorities at the Horse Guards
have decided on despatching to India—viz., 300
men of all ranks to embark at Gravesend, for Cal-
cutta, on the 7th of Oct. ; 270 men to embark at
Cork, for Calcutta, on the 9th of Oct. ; and 90 men
to embark at Gravesend, for Calcutta, on the sth
of Oct. The following vessels have been already
taken up by the Government for the conveyance of
troops and stores to India :—Persian, 1,069 tons ;
Athenais, 1,016 tons; and Kennington, 925 tons,
for Bombay ; Arethusa, 942 tons ; and Gwalior,
404 tons, for Calcutta ; Janet -Willis, 666 tons, for
Madras.
The Secretary of State for War, with his staff,
made an official visit of inspection to Plymouth
citadel on Thursday morning. He was accompa-
nied by Colonel H. Pester (Royal Artillery), and
Lieut.-Colonel W. G. Hamlet', Royal Engineers,
and was received by. Lieut.-delonent D. Crofton
(17th Regiment) and. Lieut.-Colonel E. W. Scovell,
of the 96th. General Peel examined very closely
the condition of the barracks and the apartments
of the soldiers—those in the casemates especially,
and inquired into the sanitary condition of the men.
Similar inspections have been made at Devoriport.
The publicity already given in The Sun to the ex-
traordinay measures recently adopted by the War
Department, relative to the barrack accommoda-
tion of the 2d class staff sergeants of the Royal
Artillery, has drawn the serious attention of the
commanding officers of battalions at head-quarters,
Woolwich, to the subject, the result of which is,
that the instructions were yesterday to be held in
abeyance. The whole of the quarters have been
carefully visited by the respective colonels, adju-
tants, and quartermasters of the 14 battalions. sta-
tioned in garrison, who were amazed, as they pro-
ceeded in their inspecticn, at the scanty and most
inappropriate accommodation marked out, which 1
they found in many. cases barely consisted of one
square foot to each individual for all the purposes
of eating, drinking, sleeping, washing, cooking,
#44. other domestic uses, all of which have to be
estormed in common, and under the unshelteted
gaze of some 12 or 14 persons of both sexes, as in
many cases the allotted quarters are even without
a screen or any kind of separation. This has been
pointed out as a complete violation of the regula-
tion issued in 1851 "to remedy the' nuisance of en-
cumbering common sleeping rooms," which orders
that " two children under 10 years of age shall be
counted as one lodger ; that each room occupied
as a sleeping room shall be furnished with bed-
steads, and sufficient accommodation for every per-
son received in such room ; that rooms used as
kitchen or scullery shall not be occupied as sleeping
rooms ; that persons of different sexes shall not oc-
cupy the same sleeping room, except married
couples or parents with their hildren, under 10
years of age, or any children under 10 years of age ;
that more than one married couple shall not occupy
the same sleeping room, unless the beds are sepa-
rated by a partition of wood or other solid mate-
rial, and of such height as shall be fixed in each
case by some officer duly appointed for such pur-
pose, &c."
A number of the artisans of 'Woolwich Arsenal
yesterday assembled at the Mortar Tavern for the
purpose of inspecting a variety of designs, 'and ap-
proving a model for the column about to be erected
in the burial ground to the memory of Mr. Francis
Pellatt, their late principal military storekeeper.
The model said to have. been selected consists of a
column of Portland stone, surmounted by a funeral
urn, bearing a garland of immortelles. The column
will be 14 feet in height, and will stand on a
pedestal containing four panels of Sicilianmarble.