The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-27 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

VALETTA, Nov. 22.—Her Majesty's ship Are-
thusa, 35, Capt. R. Coot°, which left Malta with
a clean bill of health, did not receive pratique on
arrival at the Piraeus for 15 days after the last death
from cholera reported by the Greek Consul, and
was sent round to Salamis Bay to pass her quaran-
tine, receiving pratique on the 7th inst. The
anchorage of the Piraeus was full of ships of war of
different nations. The French had several ships there
and the Admiral had not yet been changed. The
weather was very unsettled, with variable tempera-
ture, and some heavy rain had fallen. The master of
the English screw steamer Gosforth, which arrived
here on the 19th inst. on her way from Kertch to
Falmouth, reported having met in the vicinity of the
Doro passage, on the 9th inst., a polacca brig, with
sails and yards adrift, and apparently with no one
on board. By letters since received from Constanti-
nople we learn that the crew had been taken off the
wreck by the English screw steamer which
vessel, after a vain endeavour to tow her into a place
of safety, was compelled to abandon her owing to
the increased violence of the gale. The Peninsular
and Oriental Company's steamer Poonah, on her
last voyage from England, lost her surgeon, Dr. 11.
Y. Chapman, two days after leaving Southampton.
He went to dinner at 4 o'clock as usual, and, com-
plaining of a slight pain, retired to his cabin, where
he was found dead shortly afterwards, sitting in his
chair. Deceased was the oldest surgeon in the com-
pany's service. Mr. Ozzard, paymaster of the Prince
Consort, has been invalided, and Mr. Lively, assist.-
paymaster of the Minotaur, flagship of Admiral
Warden, has been appointed as acting-paymaster
in his place. Her Majesty's ship Endymion, 21,
Capt. C. Wake, has just entered Malta harbour,
from Marseilles. The prevailing distress, owing
principally to the long drought, is causing much
anxiety, and a Commission has been appointed by
his Excellency the Governor to inquire and report
on the subject. Some of the neighbouring countries
are even worse off than ourselves. In Tunis there
is almost a famine in the land, and the last let•
ters speak of six or seven persons dying daily from
starvation. Our agent and Consul-General, Mr.
Wood, C. 8., had returned to his post. The finan-
cial state of the Regency continues in a most de-
plorable condition.

By direction of the Secretary of State for War, a

committee of officers of the Royal Engineers—con-
sisting of Colonel Simmons, C. 8., Director of the
Royal Engineer establishment, president; Lieut.-
Col. H. Wray, instructor in architectural drawing ;
Lieut.-Col. A. A'C. Fisher, C. 8., instructor in sur-
veying; Col. W. 0. Lennox, C. 8., V.C., instructor
in field fortification ; Brigade-Major R. Harrison,
and Capt. R. H. Stotherd, instructor in telegraphy—
has been sitting for some time past at the Royal Engi-
neer Establishment, Chatham, for the purpose of in-
vestigating and reporting upon the merits of va-
rious descriptions of gabions submitted to the Go-,
vernment for general use in the service for field for-

tification. During the competitive trials which were
made with the various descriptions of gabions, the
committee examined and reported upon gabions in-
vented by Capt. Tyler, Royal Engineers ; Capt. F.
Smith, Royal Engineers ; Quartermaster Jones,
Royal Engineers; and Mr. Newton, C.E. The chief
points of comparison to which the committee were
required to direct their attention were cost, weight,
arrangement for transport, stability, and durability,
with any special merits possessed by either of the
gabions invented. The merits of the sheet-iron
gabion invented by Capt. Tyler consist in its being
light and durable, while each gabion can be made

in two minutes, while the disadvantages attending
its use are that it makes a great noise when carried
and when filled, with a want of stiffness, the report
stating that it is " unfitted for sapping." The wire
netting gabions invented by Capt. Smith and Mr.
New ton were both found to be very light, durable,
and portable, and each could be put together in a
few minutes, the defects of each being their unstea-
diness and loss of shape while being filled, the re-
port describing them as " totally unfit for flying and
other saps." In the gabion of Mr. Newton the wire
netting was lined with felt. The iron band gabion,

the invention of. Quartermaster Jones, was found to
be light, portable, durable, and very stiff, while each
could be made by a couple of men in five minutes,
an additional merit of this description of gabion
being that the galvanised iron bands can be utilisel
for the formation of flying bridges and for nume-

roux other purposes. The chief desideratum in a
good gabion, in addition to the ordinary advan-
tages of durability, portability, and cheapness, is
that it should possess rigidity of form when put
together, or when being filled it becomes dis-
torted, gives way to slight pressure, and becomes
useless as a support to large masses of earth. All

the above conditions were found to be fulfilled in
the gabion invented by Quartermaster Jones,
and the committee accordingly unanimously re-
ported that it was in all respects the best for siege
works and for general purposes. The hoop-iron ga-
bion, known in the service as the Sebastopol gabion,
was also reported upon by the committee, its only
merits being that it was strong and durable, while
its defects consisted in its being " very heavy, and
taking three men an hour and a half to make one."

The only other gabion brought under the notice of
the committee was the ordinary service one of brush.

wood, which, although possessing great strength, has
the fatal defects of being heavy and requiring three
men three hours to make one.

Lieut.-Col. Alenzies, belonging to the Woolwich
Division, has been granted one month's additional

leave of absence to recruit his health. Capt. Kenni-
cott, also of the Woolwich division, has been granted
one months' leave.

Tenders have been sent in to the Admiralty by a
number of private shipbuilding firms for the supply

of an iron screw steamer, to be employed in Chatham
harbour, in connection with the works for the en-
largement of the dockyard.

MARKETS—(This Day.)