The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-27 00:00:00

Military and Naval Inte'lizence.

The Government has decided upon putting into
immediate execution the new Act of last Session for
the better prevention of contagious diseases at cer-
tain naval and military stations, which takes effect
from and after the 30th inst., at the port and gar-
rison at Chatham, the arrangements of carrying out
the Act being entrusted to the metropolitan police.
The former Act (the 27th and 28th of Victoria,
cap. 85) relating to the same subject will cease to
operate from the date mentioned. In order to carry
out the operations of the amended Act to their
fullest extent, the Government has entered into-an
arrangement with the governors of St. Bartholo-
mew's Hospital, Rochester, for fitting up a portion
of that establishment for the reception of female
patients belonging to the class who come under the
operation of the Act. The governors of the hos-
pital have agreed to appropriate 40 beds in the hos-
pital for the purposes required, the Government con-
tributing to the funds of the hospital £4O per annum
for each bed. Hitherto patients from Sheerness have
been sent to the Rochester Hospital, but arrange-
ments are being made for the conversion of one of
the military buildings at Sheerness into an hospital
for the reception of female patients. The seaport and
garrison towns to which the Act applies are—Ports-
mouth, Chatham, Plymouth and Devonport, Wool-
wich, Sheerness, Aldershott, Windsor, Colchester,
Shorncliffe, the Curragh, Cork,.and Queenstown.

The undermentioned arrangements have been ap-
proved in connection with the, camp at Colchester:
—Lieut. Johnston, 82d Regiment, to join the depot
on the 6th of October ; Lieut. Clarke, 100th Foot,
to join the service companies as soon as possible;
Lieut. Barker, Ist King's Dragoon Guards, to pro-
ceed to Hythe, to undergo a course of musketry
instruction; Ensign Powell and Skinner • 2-18th
Foot, to proceed to the service companies as soon
as a passage can be provided ; Capt. Boulton, 100th
Regiment, to proceed to the service companies with
the draught now under orders.

The Royal Sovereign, screw turret ship, Capt. A.
Herbert, is ordered by the Admiralty to be paid out
of commission at Portsmouth on the 10th proximo.
The Admiralty have also further ordered that the
Royal Sovereign, after paying out of commission,
is not to be handed over to the charge of the captain
of the Steam Reserve of the port, as is the ordinary
course pursued with vessels under similar circum-
stances, but that she is to be attached to the Excel-
lent gunnery ship for drill'OurPc"/
to instruct sea-
men in the working
of heavy ordnance in turrets.
It is reported, however, that the Royal Sovereign
will shortly be again commissioned with a full com-
plement of officers and men by Capt. Cowper P.
Coles. To the paying out of commission of the
Royal Sovereign at the present time there can be no
great objection, on•the ground of her re-commission
by Capt. Coles, or even as a matter of economy,
during the time her after-turret is being rebuilt ;
but we trust Sir John Pakington does not intend
placing her officers on half-pay, several of whom have
notlong been borne on her books, and have therefore
necessarily gone to considerable expense in their
outfit for what they had :good reason to believe
would be the usual three years' term of service in
their ship.
The screw sloop corvette Reindeer, 7, 200 horse-
power, fitting at Chatham for commission, is to be
placed in one of the available docks at Chatham for
the purpose of being examined to ascertain whether
she has sustained any injury from having taken the
ground during the recent official trial of speed at
the measured mile. _ _ .

The 'Charybdis, 17, 400 horse-power, screw cor-
vette, has a large number of shipwrights and other
hands employedon her at Sheerness dockyard, where
she is undergoing some heavy repairs toboth hull and
machinery. Her decks are ripped tip, and she is
being supplied with new timbers and beams where
necessary. Her boilers have been removed, and her
machinery and engines are undergoing an extensive
overhaul and repair. She will be detained in dock
for some time to come.

The screw steam-sloop Dryad, 4, was launched

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty:—Capt. Charles Wake to the
Endymion, commissioned ; Commander N. Under-
wood to be inspecting commander in the Coast-
guard at Harwich ; Lieut. Richard B. Wilkinson
and Lieut. Osborn H. Parker to the Endymion ;
Sub Lieut. Alaric F. Grant and Sub-Lieut. Henry
C. Aitcheson to the Endymion ; Reginald A. Stock,
midshipman, to the Zealous ; J. 11. Broome, Archi-
bald K. Hasence, Robert W. Craigie, Douglas E.
D. Curry, W. M. West, and Walton Drake, mid-
shipmen, to the Endymion ; John Freshfield, pay-
master, to the Eudymion ; Percy O'M. Presgrave, .7.440/6-
assist.-paymaster, to the Duke of Wellington ;
William K. Horne, assist.-paymaster, to the Indus;
Warden H. E. W. Roberts, assist.-paymaster, to
the Endymion ; Thos. D. Muir, clerk, to the Endy-
mion ; Robert Donaldson and Francis E. James,
assist.-clerks, to the Victoria, as supernumerary for
disposal ; and Wardell Fisher, assist.-clerk, to the
Endymion.

The undernamed naval cadets have been nomi-
nated :—William Ledgard and Arthur W. Browne.

The Iron and Coal Trades.

Much difference of opinion, says the Wolver-
hampton Chronicle, seems to prevail in this locality
as to the actual prospects of the iron trade during
the approaching quarter, and the action which the
Association of Masters will take at the preliminary
meeting, to be held in Birmingham, on Thursday
next. A considerable section of the trade, embrac-
ing many,of the old established firms, and those who
have least difficulty in adhering to the list prices,
seem disposed toretain the price of Staffordshire bars
at the present figure, £8 10s. per ton. It is gene-
rally understood that this course will be the one
recommended by the leading members of the panel
of chairmen in whose hands the management of the
trade is left. But on the other side of the question
there are many iron manufacturers who are com-
pelled to accept much lower prices than those fixed
at the meeting of the association, and it is understood
that there is a desire on the part of these makers, or
of a considerable portion of -them, to see the list rates
made more nearly to coincide with the average price
which Staffordshire commands. We do not profess
to be in a position to offer an opinion as to which of
the above modes of action would best serve the inte-
rests of the general iron trade of this district. We
shall therefore content ourselves with stating the
arguments which have been adduced in favour of
either course.

It will be remembered that about six weeks ago
the constitution of the association was considerably
modified, and that under the rules then adopted all
members of the trade became eligible to join the
Ironmasters' Association, and we understand that
a large number of firms who were formerly re-
garded as outsiders availed themselves of the re-
vised regulations and joined the society. Thus
the Ironmasters' Association now represents the
greater part of the manufacturers. The original
association was a close compact, and only num-
bered just those firms in whose hands by far the
greater Bart of the Staffordshire trade rested, and
who also formed a large proportion of the national
iron trade, as this manufacture was then principally
carried on in this locality.
The society as at first constituted was capable of
ruling the prices which should be paid for finished
iron in this district, and it was from this centre that
other manufacturers of malleable iron naturally took
their rates. It is evident, therefore, that the present
association stands in a different relation to the local
and national trades than did its predecessor. Now
the second class manufacturers, or, in other words,
those ironmasters who do not attempt to be guided
by the list rates, and who are selling their iron at a
considerable reduction below the published prices,
are nevertheless compelled to base their scale of
wages on those paid by the first-class houses. As
there seems no prospect of any great activity in the
iron trade during the approaching winter, and con-
sequently, as they are not to get advanced prices
during the next few months, they would be glad to
see a modification in the list prices. Another sec-
tion of the trade appears anxious to discontinue the
system of quoting list
prices at all. It is understood
that this course would meet the approbation of all
in th e cboeumn tardye.
TthheoosethNevrhoiraodnvoperaotdeutchiantgudoisothricautgseshould
this quarter urge that, considering the dispute still
existing in the North of England, and the uncertain
state of the iron trade of this locality, until the re-
sults of the late financial crisis have passed away, it
would be impolitic to introduce any change which
would interfere with the whole wages question of
the district.

Under the uncertainty which prevails as to the
course which will be adopted to-morrow, transac-
tions are restricted to the narrowest possible limits,
though the general impression appears to be that
there is a more healthy tone about the trade, espe-
cially as affects home consumers. Still some little
influence must be attributed to the stoppage of the
north country forges and mills, whereby certain
pressing orders which would have been executed
there have found their way into Staffordshire.

We notice that the Great Bridge and Leabrook
Ironworks, recently conducted by Messrs. Solly
Brothers, have been formed into a limited liability
concern, under the title of the Great Bridge Iron and
Steel Company. The managing director is Mr. J.
Solly. In the matter of the Lawton Iron and Steel.
works, Mr. J. P-ercivall, of Birmingham, has been
appointed provisional liquidator. Of course an im-
portant topic of discussion at the meetings last week
was the strike in the north, especially as it had
oozed out that the Brierley-hill Union and thateoWutotl-
o
fowretrehe men on
send
nrhdfropmton£2lloloilltmoein3'sooAspseorciwateieokn
strike. A correspondence which had passed between
the London Working Men's Association and the
acting-secretary of the North of England trade had
fallen into the hands of certain members on Thurs-
day afternoon, and the letters were a good deal
talked about, as the wages which appear to have
been earned in some works during the last six
months have been very great, and seemed to remind
the trade of the statistics of earnings which came
out in connection with the North Stafford strike
last year. Our advices from that locality state that
no very material change has taken place during tho
past week. The rolling mills at Jarrow, which have
been in partial operation for some weeks, N.VC113..ClOin
not
pletely closed on Saturday last, and it is !:I,dw2
be opened till next year. The men
received asl. per
so that
head the week before last and 4s.
as
week,t
notwithstanding all that has
tasthbeeesntrur :
districts,
said about the
we find up
to the present time no se setx,e3rt
help from Londcin and oh
ceived. It is not generA y g e
gle will last much longer.
The reports from North
icateldaidthail
licts
a more encouraging character
prospects are. not at all hope:
T les business is tolerably active,
severalas good orders for rails have recently come
fSutvl. thoughffr:se thehsir:Au atmhr cc
Irolicf:ltn
to hand, hut prices in this department are so low as
only to be touched in that particular district, where
wages are also remarkably low.

B SHOULD ANY ARTICLE NOT BE
APPROVED OF IT WILL BE EXCHANGED
TIIE MONEY WILL BE RETURNED,
At E. MOSES & SON'S.

LIST OF PRICES WITH FASHION CARD
AND RULES FOR SELF-MEASUREMENT, '
GRATIS ANP POST-FREE.
At E. ,HOSES & SON'S.

MOSES & SON'S ESTABLISHMENTS
• are closed every Friday at Sunset till Saturday at
Sunset, when business is resumed till 11. o'clock.

•
MOSES & SON, CORNER or MINORIES
A-. • and ALDGATE, NEW OXFORD STREET, Corner of
HART STREET, and Corner of TOTTENHAM COURT
ROAD and EUSTON ROAD
ali3o atLEX.

The new Lord Chief Baron, whom we know better
as Sir FITZROY KELLY, has just been delivering an
latere'tiug address to the members of the Ipswich
Working lieu's College. The occasion was not an
unimportant mu, in the annals of the association,
since the
president had to present several members
ofth
the
college with certificates,
which they had
gained at the last examination of the Society of Arts.
The institution is one of considerable extent and
standing, numbering more than a thousand
hmem-
bers, and it is evidentfromtheirin recent successes
that many of them avail themselves good earnest
the objects
it
of the opportunities of mental cultivation b
offers. Sir FITZROY KELLY
•
of the Working INlen's College were twofold—to
provide a means of relaxation after the labours of
the day, and to diffuse education and knowledge
among the working classes of the borough. It was
to the latter branch of the subject that the Lord
Chief Baron chiefly addressed himself. He reminded
his hearers of the important part which they
had to play in the business of life. " The
adult male population of England numbered
about seven millions, of which no less than
five millions belonged to the working, or industrial,
or poorer classes. Let them consider the mighty
power which it was their fortune to possess, and
in his belief, whether they possessed that power
for good or evil, depended chiefly, if not entirely,
upon the amount and degree of education and know-
ledge which they might have." Sir F. KELLY went
on to show how important it was that the working
men should obtain the knowledge requisite to enable
them to form an accurate judgment on the great
social and political questions of the day. He illus-
trated his meaning by reference to a question
which strongly affects themselves—the rate of
wages, The solution Of the difficulties attending

that question depended entirely, he said, upon the
degree of education possessed by those who had
to deal with it. The strike now existing in one of
the northern counties had occasioned, it had been
calculated, a loss of wages amounting to £150,000.
If, said the speaker, the true X:inciples of political
economy had been better understood among the
people such a calamity would have been impossible.
" They had only to look to the principles which
governed the whole doctrine of wages in connection
with labour and capital to know that the interests
of the employers and employed were identical."
This is a fact which it is very difficult to make the
uneducated workman recognise, and we must ad-
mit that it is a good deal the fault of the masters
that they are unable to do so. Had they not too
often shown a disposition to beat down and take
advantage of the men, the latter would not have
been so unjustly suspicious of unfair play when a
depressed state of trade rendered a diminution of
their wages unavoidable. The plan which has been
tried in some parts of the country, of making
the manufactory a joint-stock company, in
which the masters should have two-thirds
of the capital, and the other third should
be held by the men, is a very good one, be-
cause, though it might not be available for extended
application, it will serve to diffuse among the work-
ing men of the country a better idea of the real
difficulties attending the fluctuations of trade."
After speaking at some length on this subject,
Sir Frrznov KELLY observed that there were many
other questions to which he might advert, but he
would not then dwell upon them, and he concluded
an able and interesting address by some sound
practical advice to his hearers respecting courage
under difficulties.

At the meeting of the Mansion House Relief
Committee, on Monday, the LORD MAYOR took
occasion to remark upon the terrible accounts which
were now arriving respecting the famine in India.
His lordship said he thought the citizens of London
might very well consider whether they were not
called upon, now that the disease in the East-end
was abating, to make some effort in behalf of their
fellow subjects in India who were suffering from a
far heavier calamity. The accounts which reach us
from Calcutta are truly deplorable. In that city
alone it is said that 20,000 persons are living
on charity from day to day, and that
in other parts thousands were dying of absolute
starvation. Public subscriptions to relieve the
famishing population are being raised in Calcutta,
and the LORD MAYOR suggested to the members of
the committee the possibility of sending out a sum
of money to assist them. The members of the com-
mittee present received the idea favourably, and Sir
MORDAUNT WELLS, who has been indefatigable in
his exertions to relieve the distress occasioned by
the cholera, fully confirmed all that was said from
his own Indian experience. Nothing was decided
upon, but we have no doubt the LORD MAYOR'S sug-
gestion will produce good effect.
In the meantime we may well consider the best
means of averting the recurrence of so terrible a
calamity, and to such a question there can be but
one answer—lrrigation. Among the many neglected
duties with which we may charge ourselves towards
India there is, perhaps, none more lamentable than
this. Wherever an efficient system of irrigation
has been introduced in India the result has more
than fulfilled the most sanguine expectations. It has
averted the double dangers of inundation and drought
with the terrible pendant of futnine. In Orissa
there has been notable evidence of this. At the
close of 1861 Lord CANNING entered into a contract
with the East India Irrigation Company for the
supply of works to the province of Orissa. The
work itself was not commenced until 1863, and is
necessarily still incomplete, but already its effects
are visible. The city of Cuttock, which occupies
a dangerous position on a tongue of land between
two branches of the Maharurddy River, has been
completely secured from destruction by inun-
dation. Canals available alike for irrigation
and for navigation are in progress, and
130,000 acres of land are placed under pro-
fitable cultivation. If this system were to be
exteaded throughout the country the dangers of
famine might be very much diminished. Lord
CRANBORNE has a fine opportunity before him, but
to avail himself of it, and to confer the benefits upon
India which it is in his power to bestow, he must
aband6n altogether that narrow, timid, and exclu-
sive policy which has hampered the good intentions
of so many of his predecessors. A calamity so vast
and so terrible as the famine now desolating some
parts of India certainly demands the most energetic
measures of relief.

It is true that we are not so dependent this
autumn as we generally are upon agricultural meet-
ings for affording a change of thought and interest,
for many things of home and foreign interest abound;
but still these affairs are more or less worthy of
notice, and generally suggest some topic for consi-
deration which affects the interest of the commu-
nity. The Huntingdonshire Agricultural Society
held its annual dinner and show on Wednesday.
One subject of great importance was dwelt upon by
several speakers, and that was the necessity of pure
water for the preservation of the public health.
Now that the details which have been furnished to
us respecting the late outbreak of cholera touch so
much upon this subject, we hope that it will at-
tract a proper share of attention, and that
those in an influential position will not let the
matter drop until proper remedies have been pro-
vided to remedy the abuses that we know to exist
to so sad a degree in this essential particular. Lord
R. MONTAGU regretted with reason that his bill of
1864 was not accepted by the House. It is now
known that the cholera is greatly accelerated by the
means of impure water. The noble lord added he
hoped that the " present Government would act and
not leave us a prey to cholera, as the late Govern-
ment sacrificed;our oxen to the cattle plague."
The noble lord's remarks were very much to the
point, and they seemed to interest and entertain
his hearers. He denounced the notion that it was
improper to dwell on general questions of the day
at these gatherings. Who made the rule, he asked,
tw,hraet ,e
nwthi
roeel vye r
concur
s , hweitwh otuhled
noble
forbids the discussion of politics ? " I wish
iloyrdthat unmakethiet.rie'
spobeeledi
would be no necessity for quarrelling if the rule
was departed from. As he correctly stated, "all
those who differ in opinion need not per-
' force quarrel. "The property of opinion is that
it is modified and corrected by discussion
until it amounts to knowledge, whose property is
that no persuasion or argument can alter it." The
days are happily gone by when those who exchange
views ranged themselves on different sides; and
could form no neutral ground to discuss matters
relating to the interests of their common country.
For that matter, as Lord R. MONTAGU said, there
is no question in which any one takes an interest
in which different opinions do not prevail. Some
very good advice, was given to farmers in the
concluding part of this speech. Agricul-
ture is said to be the only trade which is
fashionable, and hence the competition for farms
is increased, and their prices raised. What, then,
is to be done to make a stand against all these