The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-20 00:00:00

NEW ZEALAND STEEL.

Ever since the settlement of New Zealand by
Europeans their attention has been daily called to
the peculiarities of a kind of metallic sand along
the shores of New Plymouth, in Taranaki. This
sand has the appearance of fine steel filings, and if
a magnet be dropped upon it, and taken up again,
the instrument will be found thickly coated with
the iron granules. The place where the sand
abounds is along:the base of Mount Edmont,
an extinct volcano, and the deposit extends several
miles along the coast to the depth of many feet, and
having a corresponding breadth. The geological
supposition is that this granulated metal has been
thrown out of the volcano along the base of which
it rests on the sea, and there pulverised. It has
been looked upon for a long time as a geological
curiosity, but, although so many years have passed
since its discovery, it is only recently that any
attempt has been made to turn it to a practical
account ; in fact, the quantity is so large that people
out there looked upon it as utterly valueless. It
formed a standing complaint in the letters of all
emigrants that when the sea breeze was a little up
they were obliged to wear veils to prevent being
blinded by the fine sand which stretched for miles
along the shore. Captain Morshead, a gentleman
in the West of England, was so much impressed
with its value that be went to New Zealand to
verify the reports made to him is this country, and
was fortunate enough to find them all correct. He
smelted the ore first in a crucible, and subsequently
in a furnace ; the results were so satisfactory that
he immediately obtained the necessary grant of the
sand from the Government, and returned to Eng-
land with several tons for, more conclusive experi-
ments. It has been carefully analysed in this
country by several well-known metallurgists, and
has been pronounced to be the purest ore at pre-
sent known ; it contains 88.45 of peroxyde of iron,
11.43 of oxide of titanium, with silicia, and only 12
of waste in 100 parts. Taking the sand as it lies
on the beach and smelting it, the produce is 61 per
cent. of iron of the very finest quality ; and, again,
if this sand be subjected to what is called the
cementration process, the result is a tough, first-
class steel, which, in its properties, seems to sur-
pass any other description of that metal at present
known. The investigations of metallurgical
science have found that if titanium is mixed
with iron the character of the steel is materially
improved; but titanium being a scarce ore, such a
mixture is too expensive for ordinary purposes.
Here, however, nature has stepped in, and made
free gift of both metals on the largest scale. To give
some idea of the fineness of this beautiful sand, it
will be enough to say that it passes readily through
a gauze sieve of 4,900 holes or interstices to the
square inch. As sows as it was turned into steel by
Mr. Musket, of Coleford, Messrs. Moseley, the emi-
nent cutlers and toolmakers, of New-street, Covent-
garden, were requested to see what could be done
with the Taranaki steel. They have tested it
tin
every possible way, and have tried its temperh tom the
utmost, and they say the manner in which t
has passed through their trials goes far beyond
anything e ond
anything that they ever worked in steel before.pen-
It
has been formed into razors, scissors,
ents.
&c., and
saws,
knives, table cutlery, surgical insetruemss
of
polish, and
a rank
the closeness of the grain, thethe fineness
fore
keenness of edge place it in the
new
metal. Some silk
—almost in the position of
cutting tools have been made, and so admirably
have they turned out that one particular firm will
in future have no others. IN the surgical instru-
ments the edges have been exam mod by the micro-
scope, and have stood the test in keeping th! supe-
riority. A number of gentlemen interested in such
matters have called at Messrs. Moseley's, and have
taken various articles of this steel away for the
purpose of trying it. It is stated to possess peculiar
advantages for gnu-barrels and boring-cutters for
ordnance purposes. As far as is at present known
of this extraordinary metal, it bids fair to claim all
the finer classes of cutlery and edge-tool instru-
ments to itself, so well has everything made from it
turned out. Messrs. Moseley, in whose hands the
sole manufacture of cutlery and edge-tools is
vested for this country, have placed a case,
filled with the metal in all its stages, in the Poly-
technic Institution. There is the fine
metallic
sand, some beautiful specimens of the cutlery
made from it, and the intermediate phas.e_s of
the iron and steel. An official experimentt
l
ex-
pected to be made at some of the Government en
estab-
lishments shortly, and it is also intendedto forge
some chain cables, anchors, &c., in order to fully set
forth the great superiority of the Taranaki iron.—
The Australian Mail.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—ln a recent letter on this subject I spoke ..of
the desertions from the late Royal squadron with
the Print- - Vales in America, and mentioned-
! instanc .., . .1, as I said, had been communi-
-1 cated to me "by officers of the Royal squad-
ron, whose statements I believed might be
implicitly depended on." Such was the inci-
dent I related as to the open desertion of the
men from the Ariadne at Prince Edward Island, and
related in the very words in which it was told to me.
Captain Vansittart says not one word of this is true.
Now if, smarting under this implication, r departed
from the strict rule of the profession, and gave.up the
name of the officer of the Royal squadron who in-
formed me, I think it would make the service stare,
and the public too. So, also, if I gave the name oad
rank of the officer on whose authority I stated " that
the utmost vigilance was used to check desertion,"
and who in America told me he did not know what
to do to prevent it; and so, also, if I gave 11P my
authority for stating why the ships could not be
trusted near New York. Now, when the alleged
desertions took place at Prince Edward Island, the
following ships of war formed the Royal squadron
in the harbour :—The Hero, 91 ; Ariadne, 26, Fly-
ing-fish, 6 ; Nile, 91 ; Valorous, 16 ; knd Cossack,
17. The French frigate Pomone, 42, was also there.
Already I have learnt from an officer present that I
was only misinformed in the name of the ship. lam
again assured that all the facts connected with the
desertion took place exactly as I stated them, in the
face of day. In a few hours mare I shall have the
name of the vessel from which the men thus ran as
I stated, and I shall have this from an authority
which will put the matter beyond a doubt.
Captain Vansittart does most rightly in clearing
his ship from the charge; at, as the question was
simply one as to the fact of desertions, it will not, as
far as the public is concerned, mend the matter by
showing it was as common from 'other ships as from
the Hero or Ariadne. Capt. Vansittart admits the
desertion of 36 seamen and one marine in three
months, and the Hero lost 54 men in the same time,
which is nearly at the rate of 220 men a-year from
the Hero and 150 from the Ariadne. Surely these are
poor grounds on which to deny the fact that desertions
from the Navy are notoriously common. To make art.
attack on the ships of the Royal squadron is very
far from my thoughts or wishes, and in the very
letter of which Captain Vansittart complains I spe-
cially mentioned the fact that Captains Seymour,
Vansittart, and Hope were considered to be three
of the most popular commanders in the service—.
officers generally considered by other captains as
erring on the side of too much kindness to their
crews.—l remail yours very obediently,
YOUR LATE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
WITH THE PRINCE OF WALES.

THE GLOI.RE.

A correspondent of the Scotsman, signing himself
P. M. F., gives the following account of this ter-
rible frigate :—But while giving these facts your
readers may suppose that I have entirely overlooked
that gem of the French marine, that iron-plated
invulnerable Gloire, about which all the scientific
minds of Britain have been hazarding all sorter of
opinions. Whatever notions may exist in Englani:l
regarding the strength or sea-going
,qualities Of
this vessel, people in this quarter of the globe have
no misgivings on the subject. The Gloire was
admirably tested in the recent Algerian trip of
Napoleon 111. I have spoken with men who assisted
in the working of the ship to the African coast,
and they declare that not even the Imperial yacht
itself, light and trim cut as she is, behaved so well
during the heavy gales which the squadron encoun-
tered as soon as it had left the French coast. I
know that during these gales the steamers from
Cette were linable to leave port in consequence of
the frightful state of the sea, and that na fishing
squadron in any of the Mediterranean ports Jurst
attempt to leave its moorings. The Gloire.—
heavily charged with her full amount of ammuni.-
tine, with all her guns, with provisions for some
months, with her tremendous engines, and her 41
inch coat of mail—the Gloire cut through those
giant billows with a steadiness little less than the
Great Eastern herself when she breasted the gale
in the English Channel during her first sea voyage.
I do not judge of the capabilities of the Gloire by
hearsay alone. A few days ago, when walking on
the rockbound coast near the Isles of Hyeres, some
miles to the eastward of Toulon, I watched the
Gloire as she steamed out of Toulon ItadO on an
experimental trip, and passed the isles, making
fast towards the Italian coast. The sea way'
high, and the surf dashed fiercely against the
Hyeres rocks, rearing their frothy heads some
GO feet above the ocean level. Yet though the
ship passed quite near enough the land to enable
me to see the helmsman at the wheel, I could dis-
cern scarcely any roll or pitch. Indeed, the length
and ponderous weight of the vessel enables her to
stride colossus-like over the Mediterranean waves
with almost perfect ease. Few heavy ships—as
instance the return of the Hero and Ariadne from
America—can behave steadily in a seaway, and
thdugh the enormous rollers of the Atlantic have
little in common with those of the Mer du Midi
when the storm winds " hold tyrant sway," yet I
am convinced that the Gloire will conduct herself
in the deep waters off Finisterre, as well, ceterit
paribus, as she does in the tideless sea. I asked
one of the men who were in charge of her during
the Algerian voyage whether guns could be fired
from her portholes as conveniently as from the
wooden Ville de Paris during a rough sea, and his
reply was in the affirmative, the man observing
that he had paid particular attention to the way in
which the sides of the Gloire " dipped" both on her
outward and return voyage. Now, the French
people are not slow in finding faults—even with
their own institutions—and having beard generally
expressed approval of the capabilities of this frigate,
from high and low quarters, I cannot but consider
that she is about as perfect as such a heavy-
ca
ship can be. It is the intention of the Marine to
send her to Brest, where the almost constant pre•
valence of rough weather will put her qualities to
a much severer test than they have yet undergone.
In appearance, the Gloire, which a far larger than
any of the other five fregates blindets, does not con-
vey to you the idea of either a uery heavy or a very
powerful ship. Her lines are so delicate and sym-
metrical, her three taper masts so slim and yacht-
like that were it not for her short wide funnel,
which tells of vast machines below, you might while
cruising round her, imagine that she was a huge
pleasure-boat and not the most formidable of exist-
ing
war-ships. The Toulonnaises are proud of her,
and every fine day the pleasure-boats which line
the broad merchant quay sally out with visitors
and swarm around her with wasp-like pertinacity.

A few curious relics were sold by auction, in
Edinburgh, a few days ago :—The embroidered cap and
handkerchief worn by Charles I. on the scaffold, carefully
preserved by the Hyndford family, the
descendants of
Lord Carmichael, 'who was a faithful subject and servant
of Charles I. fetched £3O ; Cardinal York's scarlet coat and
vest, worn by the Cardinal when he was a field marshal,
£l2 ; a white satin coat, richly embroidered in silver gilt
and cloth of gold, also satin vest to correspond, which be-
longed to Prince Charles, and were afterwards the property
of Air. Edgar, of Keithlock, so long attached to the Stuart
family, in the capacity of secretary, £2s.—Scotsman.
VALUE OF A New RIVER SHARE.--Yesterday,
at the Auction Mart, Messrs. Hammond and Eiloart offered
ur
ear staetl
to public auction two 36th parts or shares in the King's
utoi
an
ori-
ginal
undertak-
ing was commenced in 1608 and completed in 1613, and, the
ety of
half
E thehar Newe. The Ricer Company, being
tgha virtually
the ualy
ivae
auctioneer
resources of Sir Hugh Myddleton being exhausted before
the work was completed, he applied to the Crown for addi-
tional money to carry out the work, and made over half the
property in return for half the expenses being paid. In 1636
Charles I. granted his moiety back to Sir Hugh Myddleton
on condition of an annual payment of £,500, which payment
is charged on the King's shares, and distributed over them
by the company before paying a dividend. For 18 years after
the undertaking was completed there was no dividend paid,
and the shares were given away gratis. In 1793 Pennant
says the shares sold for £lO,OOO. The dividend last year
amounted to £441 6s. Bd. per share, and the auctioneer
stated that when the leases of the house property belonging
to the company expired, and as the metropolis increased,
the income of the company would be enormously increased.
The lot sold for £8,700, making the value of a whole share
£17,400. This makes the value of the " adventurers"
shares in the property, from not being charged with the
payment to the Crown, about £20,000,

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