The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-17 00:00:00

MIDLAND CONTRACT.

A special meeting of the shareholders in this
company was held at Birmingham on Thursday ;
Mr. W. A. Adams, the managing director, in the
chair. The chairman stated that the company had
been formed to construct the line of railway in France
through La Vendee, from the important seaport of
Sables d'Olonne, on the shores of the Atlantic to
Bressuire, and then on to Tours. Two-thirds of the
line, the section from Sables to the capital of the
Province Napoleon-Vendee, had been nearly com-
pleted, the land beyond had been purchased, and
the remainder of the works had been executed at a
cost below the original estimate. The first part of
the subvention from the French Government, paid
half-yearly, had been received, and others would be
due as soon as the outlay enabled the directors to
claim the instalments. A convention had been en-
tered into with the French Minister of Public Works
for the extension of the line to Tours, with a further
sum to be paid to the company of £400,000. This
would make the whole amount of money to be paid
by the Government towards the construction of the
line nearly a million, and that sum would enable
the company to possess the cheapest trunk line of
railway in Europe. The Midland Contract Com-
pany possessed all the shares of the railway, so that
for the sum they advanced they had the whole of
this large property. The estimate of profit was
submitted to the meeting, and this, in addition to 5
per cent. per annum upon the amount paid, would
more than double the interest on the investment.
A resolution was passed to the effect that the
capital of the company be increased to £600,000 by
the issue of 10,000 shares of £2O each. It was stated
that the bulk of the shares would be taken up by
the present proprietary.
Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Griffon, 5, screw gun vessel, 425 tons, 80
horse-power, after having been thoroughly repaired
and refitted since her last commission in Sheerness
dockyard, was on Tuesday taken to the measured
mile off Maplin Sands for the official trial of her
machinery. She was in charge of the commander
of the Sheerness steam reserve, Mr. W. W. Wil-
liamson, inspector of machinery afloat, and Mr. G.
Blaxland, chief engineer in Sheerness dockyard
were present. Six runs were made on the mea-
sured mile at full-boiler power, giving an average
of 9.141 knots per hour, with a maximum of 96 and
a mean of 91,666 revolutions of the engines, and a
vacuum in condensers of 25-5. Two runs were
made at half boiler power, giving an average of
7.504 knots per hour, with a maximum of 84 and a
minimum of 73 revolutions of the engines, and a
vacuum in condensers of 26. The draught of water
forward was 10ft. 10in. ; aft, lift. Bin. The load
on the safety valve 201 b., and the pressure of steam
in the boilers 18.75. The wind was north, with a
force of 3 to 4. The vessel is fitted with a Griffith's
propeller, the diameter of which is 9ft. ; the pitch,
13ft. ; the length, 2ft. 10iu. ; and the immersion of
the upper edge, Ift. Sin. The engines stopped from
the moving of the telegraph in 13 secs., started
ahead in 12 secs., and astern in 15 secs. They were
manufactured by Messrs. Napier and Sons, of Glas-
gow, and worked most satisfactorily. There were
no hot bearings. The boilers produced a good sup-
ply of steam without priming. So far as the engines
and boilers are concerned the ship is certified as
being ready for sea.

The large floating shears at Chatham dockyard,
used in masting the vessels of war at that establish-
ment, have been towed round to the Thames by the
Adder and other steamers for the purpose of being
employed in masting the ironclad frigate Northum-
berland, 26, 1,350-horse power.
The following is an extract from a private letter
received from her Majesty's screw gun vessel Espoir,
dated April 7, from Jellah Coffee, West Coast of
Africa :—" We are daily expecting the Greyhound
here to relieve us,when Capt. Stirling, of that ship,
becomes senior officer here, succeeding our captain,
Peile, and we sail for St. Paul's de Loanda. and St.
Helena to recruit the health of officers and ship's
company. From St. Helena we go to the South
Coast. We were detained some time since and sent
on to St. Paul's de Loanda for adjudication the
Portuguese bark Dahomey. She had three slaves--
a supposed beginning of cargo—and no papers when
captured, together with about 100 puncheons of oil
and a quantity of rum and tobacco. She is a beau-
tifully modelled vessel, and will prove a valuable
prize for us if condemned. The yellow fever has en-
tirely left the Bristol."
The screw frigate Tribune, Capt. Lord Gifford,
which recently returned to Portsmouth from service
in the Pacific, was paid out of commission along-
side Portsmouth dockyard yesterday. The gunroom
officers of the ship, previous to separating, presented
to Lieut. G. Shewell, R.M.L.1., a very handsome
silver vase.

Capt. R. A. Powell, C. 8., at present command-
ing the cadet training ship Britannia, at Dartmouth,
has accepted the command, offered to him by the
Admiralty, of the sbrew unarmoured frigate Topaze,
31, 2,659 tons, 600 horse power, as second officer in
command of her Majesty's ships on the Pacific sta-
tion, vice Capt. M. de Courcy, returning to England.
We understand that the Admiralty have resolved
in order to test as fully as possible in time of peace
the turret principle, as fitted with the revolving
tables and wheels on Capt. Colas plans, to fire a
steel bolt at one of the turrets at short range, from
the Armstrong 10-inch, or 300-pounder rifled 12-
ton gun, now on board the iron-armoured frigate
Bellerophon. The day is not yet fixed for the expe-
riment.
The chartered troopship Alumbagh, which arrived
in the Thames on Tuesday from the Mauritius,
whence she sailed on the 19th of February with two
companies of Royal Engineers, together with de-
tachments of time-expired men and other troops,
on board from the Mauritius and the Cape of Good
Hope, disembarked her detachments at Gravesend
yesterday, under the superintendence of Brigade-
Major W. Lynch and the officers of the Staff from
Chatham garrison. The 11th company of Royal
Engineers, from the Cap3ur
Cape of
Mauritius,
disembarked Hope, andthaet
21st company from the
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ae
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uoanr
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oevening
and proceeded di
_
barracks, Chatham,
Government
which they reached late that
clilayrecGt
night. The troops,
to the number of upwards of
detachments from
100 men of all ranks, included
the 2d battalion 13th Light Infantry, 2d battalion
22d Regiment, 2d battalion 24th Regiment, 94th
Corps. The time-expired men and convalescent
Regiment, 96th Regiment, and the Army Hospital
troops were forwarded yesterday from Gravesend
to join the depots of their various corps.
Orders were received at Chatham yesterday di-
recting the reinforcements for the Ist battalion of
the 15th Regiment in Canada to embark at Graves-
end this morning
on board
the hired troopship
Achilles, under the
command of Capt. J. Wilkinson.

THE CHANCERY VACATION.--The Chancery vaca-
tion ends on the 20th inst., and on Monday the offic will be reopened. Trinity term commenced
on Tuesday.es The
arrears in the several courts are inconsiderable.