The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-31 00:00:00

it. I afterwards examined the mat, and the pistol
was gone.

By Mr. Leech—l did not notice anything re-
markable in his manner or appearance.
Mr. W. Cantrell, druggist, Belper, proved that
he sold the prisoner a pistol on the Bth Aug. last for
Is. Gd. On the following Saturday evening (the
10th) he sold him the ponder, caps, arid a few shots.
He had two pennyworth of No. 9 shot.
Sarah Waterfall—l live in Field-lane, Belper.
On the morning in question I was in the house
about half -past eight o'clock, when the prisoner
brought our milk. Prisoner took up a pistol, and
raid to a little boy in the house, " I will shoot you."
Ile boy's name was Slater. The pistol went off
and made a little noise. I did not find any bullet
or shot, nor did I see any marks on the boy Slater.
Prisoner went to the house immediately afterwards.
Mr. Superintendent Shave, of Belper, produced
a quantity of shot corns (18 in number) and some
wads. Four of the shots had blood upon them,
which he had received from David Ashover. Ile

jot a warrant for the apprehension of the prisoner
on August 14, but he was not to be found, although
they had scoured the country for him. Mr. Leech
wrote on Monday last, saying prisoner would volun-
tarily surrender, and he has done so.
This was the whole of the evidence, and the depo-
sitions having been read over, prisoner was com-
mitted for trial for unlawfully and maliciously
wounding.
Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Lords of the Admiralty landed yesterday
morning shortly after 10 o'clock at the Devonport
dockyard, where they were received by Port-Ad-
miral W. F. Martin, K.C.8., Admiral-Superinten-
dent T. R. Drummond, C. 8., Capt. G. C. Willes,
Steam Reserve ; Captain the Hon. F. A. C. Foley
(Cambridge), Capt. W. N. Rolland (Lord Warden),
Capt. J. C. Burgoyne, V.C. (Wivern), Capt. F. S.
Freemantle (Impregnable), Mr. Moore, Master
Shipwright, and the officials of the dockyard. Their
lordships proceeded to the office of the Admiral-
Superintendent, where there were assembled the
lion. T. L. Corry, First Lord of the Admiralty-
Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, K.C.8., First
Sea Lord; Admiral G. H. Seymour, C.B. ; Major
Clark, Chief Inspector of the Engineering Depart-
ment; Admiral R. S. Robinson, Controller of the
Navy ; and Capt. Brandretb, Lord H. Lennox, and
Mr. C. Du Cane. Their lordship's continued on
duty in the office until half-past 12. After luncheon
they would commence their inspection by proceed-
ing through the Devonport dockyard and Keyham
steamyard. In the evening they dine at Mount
Wise with the Port Admiral, after which they go to
the ball at St. George's-hall, Stonehouse, in favour
of the Royal Female Orphan Asylum.
The paddle-wheel steam frigate Valorous, 16,
Captain Charles C. Forsyth, which arrived in Ply-
mouth Sound yesterday morning, left the Cape of
Good Hope on the 4th of July ; touched at St.
Helena on thel9th of July; atAscension on the 25th,
and at St. Vincent on the Bth of August. She spoke
July 8, an English bark showing the third distin-
guishing pendant 8239, from Algoa Bay for Lon-
don ; on the 15th, the P. Bouverie, 71., days from
Bombay, for Liverpool ; and the Clara, 59 days
from Madras, for London ; on the 17th, an English
ship showing first distinguishing pendant 0275, 67
days from Calcutta, for London ; August 1, the
English ship Inventory, and August 29, the ship
Essex. The Valorous brings the following officers
invalided from the West Coast of Africa :—Mr.
Thurston Stringer,master ; Mr. Jeremiah Donovan,
assist.-surg. ; and Mr. Henry J. Morgan, midship-
man. The Valorous was put into commission on
the 15th of April, 1863. She will be inspected to-
day preparatory to proceeding into Ilamoaze, when
her crew will be p aid off.
The indicator diagrams taken on the last trial of
the Waterwitch hydraulic propelled gun vessel over
the measured mile* in Stoke's Bay, near Ports-
month,on the 27th inst., gives the following figures:
—At full-boiler power—lndicated horse powert
800.85; mean pressure of steam in the cylind_rs,
25-9991 b. At half-boiler power—lndicated horse
power, 271.23 ; mean pressure of steam in the cylin-
ders, 12.9741 b. It is somewhat remarkable that on
the present trial the Water witch with a greater
exerted power of her engines should have obtained
a less rate of speed, as comf ared with her previous
trial on the 9th iust., as shown by the subjoined
figures :—August 9.—lndicated horse power, at full
power, 777.13 ; at half power, 226-02 ; mean pres-
sure of steam in the cylinders—at full boiler power,
26.727 ;at half boiler power, 11.615. The loss
in the ship's speed on the 27th can only be
ascribed to the fouling of her bottom, which may
have taken place during the 23 days she had been
out of dock, and to the alteration in her trim from
her former trial, her trim having been 10in. by the
stern on her trial on the 9th inst., and but 4in. on
her last trial. The only fact learnt from this last
trial of the ship corroborates the remarks made in
The Sun a .few days since, that the Waterwitch
needed no further trial, the only vessel of the three
—the Viper, Vixen, and Waterwitch—that it was
necessary to give another trial to, so as to stamp
the competitive series at their proper value, being
the Viper at the trim she was designed to steam at
—l2in. by the stem. The Waterwitch was tested on
her last trial at the same mean draught of water as
the Viper. Mean draughts do not, however, re-
present equal conditions unless the vessels have the
same trim. The Viper was trimmed 23 inches by
the stern, but the Waterwitch was only trimmed by
the stern six inches. With this difference the form
of the hole each made in the water was very diffe-
rent, and all conditions of equality were destroyed.
It has always been understood that thelVaterwitch,
the Viper, and the Vixen were specially built to test
the comparative value of the hydraulic wheel and
the screw, and that with the Waterwitch trimmed
at an even keel and the others each 12 inches by
the stern the displacement iu both measurement and
form would be as nearly as possible alike with all
three vessels. If this be the case, it is evident that
all trials made under other conditions are entirely
valueless.
The Government screw storeship Ilesper, Staff-
Commander James G. H. Tli ain, arrived at Spithead
yesterday morning from China. In addition to her
cargo of stores she brought home a number of naval
invalids and 30 invalided soldiers, accompanied by
Lieut. Dunn, 2d battalion 29th Regiment, iu mili-
tary charge, and Assist.-Sorg. llensman, 2d batta-
lion 20th Regiment, in medical charge.
To-day will be observed as a holiday in Ports-
mouth dockyard,. by permission of the Lords of the
Ad:uiralty, given on the occasion of their recent
visit of inspection to that establishment.
The unarmoured screw frigate Forte, 29, 2,364
tons, 400-horse power (nominal), attached to the
third division of the steam reserve squadron in the

Medway, has been placed iu dock, where she is

undergoing a thorough overhaul and refit previously
to being placed in the first-class steam reserve, in
readiness for commission. The Forte will require
some heavy repairs, which will detain her iu the
shipwright's hands for some time.

A number of hands: are employed in the steam
sawing-mills at Chatham Dockyard preparing the
timbers and cutting out the frames for a new
unarmoured screw corvette, to be named the Wood-

lark, which is to be at once commenced at Chatham,
from the designs of the Chief Constructor of the
Navy. The Woodlark is to bo one of a new de-
scription of improved screw corvettes designed by Mr.
Reed, between the Blanche and the old type of

screw corvettes, of which the Rattlesnake was the
last constructed at Chatham. She will be of 1,450

ons burden, with engine power of 400 horses, and

will mount an armament of six heavy guns. The

vessels of this class will be constructed on the

U-shaped principle, with broad midship sections,

which will give ample accommodation for the officers

and crew, besides allowing them to carry more

powerful machinery than usually fitted to vessels of

their tonnage.
In consequence of the whole arrangements con-
nected with the proposed siege operations at
Chatham, which were to have taken place, as con-
templated, on Monday next, not being completed,
the review and engineering operations have been

postponed by the authorities until a future occasion

The under-tueutimed officers of the 2d battalion