The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-19 00:00:00

HAY.

SMITHPIELD.—Aieadow hay, £3 Os to £4 15s; clover,
£4 Os to .£5 15s Od ; and straw, £1 16s to £2 4s per load.
Trade firm.

CUMBERLAYD.—Meadow hay, £3 5s
.to £5 Os ; clover,
£4 Os to £5 154 ; and straw, £1 188 to £2 5s per load.
Trade steady.
WHlTEmula.—Meadow hay, £3 08 to £4 158 ;
£4 5s to £6 Oa Od and straw, £1 Itis to £2 4s per load.
Limited supply.

LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET.

(This Day.)
Market quiet. Sales probably 5,000 bales.

CRICKET MATCH ON THE ICE AT NOTTINGHAM.—
Yesterday afternoon a cricket match was played on a sheet
of ice near the Trent, by the members of the Notts County
Cricket Club. The men wore skates, and the match
created considerable interest. Sides worn chosen, and
some very exciting play followed, Butler, on Brown's side,
running up the excellent score of 33. A very extraordi-
nary catch was made by J. C. Shaw. The following is tii
score :—Grundy's side :—J. Grundy, 10 ; G. Martin, 0 ; J.
C. Shaw, 6; Stokes, 6; J. Clegg, 10 ; Lowe, 0 ; total,
32. Brown's side; C. Brown, 20 ; W. 11. Butler, 33; J.
Dance, 0; Harvey, 15; Bough, 0 ; Geary, 9 ; total, 77.

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HER MAJESTY, &c•

OSBORNE, Jan. 18.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Christian,
drove out yesterday afternoon, attended by Lady
Waterpark ; and her Majesty walked in the
grounds this morning, accompanied by Miss
IVPGregor. '

The D.lke of Edinburgh arrived at Osborne yes-
terday, attended by the Hon. Eliot Yorke.
_ _

The Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Louise, and
Prince Arthur skated in the grounds this morning.
Princess Louise was attended by the lion. Emily
Cathcart.

Prince and Princess Christian, Prince Leopold,
Princess Beatrice, and Prince Henry of Prussia
went out walking.

Mr. Mitchell has had the honour of submitting to
the Queen some printed copies in colours of Mr.
MacLeay's drawings of Highlanders of Scotland.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Major-Gen. C. Hay's (Inspector-General of Mus-
ketry) annual report for the information of the
Duke of Cambridge, on the instruction carried on at
the Schools of Musketry at Hythe and Fleetwood,
has just been promulgated, bearing date, School of
Musketry, Hythe, Oct. 24, 1866, and contains the
following statements :—The number trained at the

Schools of Musketry, Hythe, and Fleetwood, dur-
ing the year ending March 31, 1866, of all ranks of
the several branches of the service, including seven
volunteers, is 1,678. In order to afford an oppor-
tunity to a greater number of men to shoot at dis-

tances beyond 300 yards, and thereby increase the
number of competitors for prizes, it was considered
desirable to reduce the qualification for passing from
the third to the second class ; consequently the
courses of practice at the schools during the year
have been conducted as regards qualifications only
under two systems, which are sliown separately for
comparison. The change was sanctioned by the
General Order, No. 878, dated Horse Guards, 4th
of Jan., 1866. The number of officers, sergeants,
and rank and file of the regular army, Royal navy,
staff of militia, and Volunteers, are given in detail.
With regard to the officers, sergeants, and rank and
file of the army the number of third-class shots under
the new system is considerably less than under the
old. The " figure of merit" in rapid file firing and
skirmishing for officers at Hythe was—in 1864-65,
110.29 ; and in 1865-66, 96.97 ; at Fleetwood for
the former year, 98.54, and for the latter 101.95.
Sergeants and rank and file—Hythe, 1864 65,
100.03 ; 1865-66, 106.21 ; Fleetwood in the former
year, 90.06, and in the latter, 108.49. The shooting,
on the whole, has improved in both schools, except
in the case of the officers at Hythe.
The following results of the yearly course of prac-
tice of the sergeant instructors at Hythe and Fleet-
wood are recorded as an evidence of what squads
of men can do with the Enfield rifle when carefully
and systematically trained. These non-commis-
sioned officers are not selected as instructors on ac-
count of their good shooting, many of them being
only second-class shots when they joined the
school:—Average points obtained in the first
period-53 at Hythe, 51 at Fleetwood ; ditto, in
volley firing, 24 at Hythe, 25 at Fleetwood ; per-
centage of first class, minus third class, 95 at Hythe,
92 at Fleetwood ; figure of merit, 172 at Hythe,
168 at Fleetwood. Average points obtained in the
second class, second period-40.57 at Hythe, 32.13
at Fleetwood; ditto, first class, third period, 19.80
at Hythe, 21.33 at Fleetwood ; ditto, in rapid file-
firing, 14.10 at Hythe ; time, smin. 52sec. at

Hythe ; average points obtained in the second class,
second period, in skirmishing, 17.10 at Hythe.
The number of sergeants and petty officers of the
Royal navy. (20), regular army, militia, volunteer,
and staff sergeants instructed at both schools was
483, of whom 300 were awarded certificates of qua-
lification for the appointment of sergeant instructor
of musketry, the remaining 183 being pronounced
ineligible. The percentage of sergeants who had
been awarded certificates this year increased, as
compared with that of 1864-65 ; the former being
62, the latter 53. Gen. Hay remarks :—" I would,
however, notice, notwithstanding this increase, that
there is great room for improvement in writing and
arithmetic in the majority of those who passed for
the appointment." The gallant General also remarks
—" I have again much pleasure in bearing testi-
mony to the exemplary conduct and efficiency shown
by the petty officers of the Rckyal Navy while at
this school for instruction." Gen. Hay concludes
his report with the following remarks :
Having noticed in my last report a practice that prevailed
of selecting third-class shots for the detachments sent to
the schools of musketry, it now only remains for me to
mention a circumstance which occurred during the year for
which this report is prepared, to show what may be done
with third- class shots if pains be taken in their further in-
struction, instead of depriving them of indulgences, and
subjecting them to what has the appearance of punish-
ment, for faults which have not been discovered and cor-
rected during the execution of the preliminary drills, and
hence have been confirmed. In th• February term the 39th
Foot sent a detachment of nine men to this school (exclu-
sive of the officer's servant, who is not exorcised). Five
of these men were third-class shots, who, the commanding
officer intimated, were selected to be sent hero, "to judge
if proper attention had been paid to their instruction by
the regimental instructor during the annual course for
1865-66," they having failed to pass into the second class
after a further course of preliminary instruction at the re-
giment, although, as the commanding officer stated, " the
strictest attention of the officer instructor had been given
to them." This detachment was, with others, put through
the usual course of drill and practice ; not only did all
these third-class shots pass into the second class after
firing 20 rounds in the first period, the worst shot obtain-
ing 38 points (30 being the qualifying number), but three
of them passed into the first class. Tho figure of merit of
this detachment was 117.55, with no third-class shots
while that of the regiment for 1865-66 is 54.28, with 109:
or 171 per cent., third-class shots. This result speaks for
itself as regal ds the value of the preliminary drills, which
I regret being obliged to remark are in too many cases
slurred over.

On Thursday the screw steamship Gibraltar, 81,
was hauled alongside the sheer Hulk iu Hamoaze,
and had her masts taken out.

Vice-Admiral the Hon. SirHenryKeppal, K.C.8.,
was yesterday appointed Commander-in-Chief in
China, vice Vice-Admiral G. H. V. King, whose
period of service has expired.

Railway and other Companies.

TRAFFIC RECEIPTS.

The traffic receipts of railways in the United
Kingdom amounted, for the week ending January

12, on 12,734 miles, to £603,893, and for the cor-
responding week of last year, on 12,498 miles, to
£598,092, showing an increase of 236 miles and of
£5,800. The gross receipts on the following 14
railways amounted, in the aggregate, on 9,189
miles, to £509,260, and for the corresponding week
of 1866, on 9,039 miles, to £507,028, showing an
increase of 150 miles and £2,232. The increase
on the Caledonian amounted to £1,002 ; on the
Great Northern to £2,759 ; on the Great Southern
and Western to £424 ; on the Great Western to
£1,945 ; on the Lancashire and Yorkshire to.
£3,279 ; on the London and North-Western to
£1,724; on the London and Brighton to £1,739 ;
on the London and South-Western to £598 ; and
on the South-Eastern to £s22.—Total, £13,992.
But from this must be deducted £3,451, the
decrease on the Great Eastern ; £1,895 on the
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire ; £1,271
on the Midland ; £50,1 on the North British ; and
£4,512 on tha North-Eastern, together £11,760,
leaving the increase as above £2,232. The goods
and mineral traffic on those lines amounted to
£300,799, and for the corresponding week of 1866
to £300,586, showing an increase of £213. The
receipts for passengers, parcels, &c., amounted to
£208,461, against £206,442, showing an increase
of £2,019. The traffic receipts on 52 other lines
amounted, on 8,545 miles, to £94,632, and for the
corresronding week of last y,.n.r, on 3,439 miles, to
£91,064, showing au increase of 86 miles and of
£3,568. The total receipts of the past week show
an increase of £628 as compared with those of the
preceding week; ending the sth infit,