The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-03 00:00:00

Naval and Military intelligence.

The most important subject for the consideration
of the Lords of the Admiralty in their present in-
spection of the dockyard and other naval establish-
ments at Devonport is undoubtedly the present
extent of the dock, basin, and wharf accommodation
available for the repairs and outfit of our ironclad
fleets, and the proposed additions. The Select Com-
mittee of the House of Commons recommended
that the establishment at Keyham should be ex-
tended by adding at least two docks and a basin, to
be accessible at all times of the tide, as with the
new docks and basin at Portsmonth, the tenders for
the execution of which Were received from the several
'contractors, at the Admiralty-an Friday last. Not-
withstanding this recommendation of the committee,
Sir J. Pakington and his colleagues
inwill find that
no steps whatever have been taken the matter.
That the engineer who designed the present docks
and basin foresaw and partially provided for the
future extension of the work is evident, for in the
north wall of the basin may be clearly traced the
necessary formation in the work to admit of anew
and capacious entrance being formed there in. con-
nexion with any future extension. Indeed this was
one of the things specially provided for by Mr.
Scamp, the Deputy-Director of Architectural Works,
&c., to the Admiralty, in his designs for the docks
and basins as then carried out. No one will be in-
clined to dispute the assertion that the Select Com-
mittee of the House of Commons, after their long
and laborious investigation of the subject, arrived at
a sound conclusion in recommending the extension
of the present dock, basin, and wharf accommodation
at Devonport and Keyham, and in urging also that
the proposed additions should be effected with all
possible vigour. The Board of Admiralty during their
present visit to Devonport and' Keyham may rea-
sonably be expected to deal with this important sub-
ject, and especially may they be expected to do this
effectually from the fact of the present First Lord
having been a prominent member of the committee,
which unanimously agreed for the immediate exten-
sion of Keyham's docks and basins. It is asserted
that Sir John Pakington has declared the present
visit of his Board to the dockyards to be strictly a
matter of business, and not a mere formal procession
as in previous years. Sir John is now very anxious
to increase our ironclad navy, and also to provide
adequate dock and basin accommodation, at the chief
ports for outfit and repair. The first he is likely to
carry out in accordance with his own ideas and those
of the Controller of the Navy, Rear-Admiral R. S.
Robinson. The second is all prepared to his hands,
and he has only to take care that the whole thing is
set fairly going to insure its success. Sir John is,
however, not tb e first declared naval reformer on first
accession to office, and he will find, as all his prede-
cessors have done, startling impediments in his path.
There is not an official surrounding " the Board" at
Whitehall who is not pledged, by virtue of his pre-
sent position and old traditions, to fight to the death
against any change whatever. -Now, these are the
men to whom a new Board has to turn for informa-
tion, to learn from, in fact, the actual duties of their
new office. Sir John will find no advantage in any
encounter with these men by having previously hell
the office of " First Lord." They will first of all
" give bim plenty of rope," as they playfully term
the ancient usage, and when the proper time comes
check hlm sharply, and bewilder him with elaborately
filled sheets of foolscap. What chance can Sir John
have in any scheme for reform of the Admiralty and
the administration of the navy with the permanent
staff so entirely opposed to him, and holding him,
as they necessarily do, completely in their power ?
At the dockyards the same feeling and nearly the
same power exists with regard to the Admiralty. The
officers of her Majesty's dockyards seem very sub-
missive to the Board in its annual visitations,
and yet they know that they and their brethren
in London really govern the administration of her
Majesty's dockyards and the navy, and not "My
Lords." The system which commands a dockyard
official to return an even balance-sheet, but forbids
him to give a truthful return, and thus renders all
dockyard returns of estimates and expenditure not
worth the paper they are written upon, has not
been improved by the Stansfeld " labour charts"
and other new additions, which have only made it
more ridiculous than before. Sir John Pakington
can only effect permanent good at the Admiralty or
in our dockyards by first destroying this " system."
He may have the courage, but has he the power for
so great a task?
_ _ _

The recent successful trial of the ‘4 Phillip's patent
rotatory cylinder" for cleaning ship's bottoms on
the bottom of the iron screw yacht Fairy at Ports-
mouth has induced the Lords of the Admiralty to
order the cylinder tried on the Fairy to be forwarded
at once to Portland to her Majesty's ship Achilles,
for Capt. Vansittart to try it upon the bottom of
his ship and report upon it to the Admiralty. The
cylinder is coated externally with diagonally fixed
brushes and scrapers. Inside it carries a screw,
the action of the water on the screw turning the
cylinder—either by the running Through of the
water or the passage of the ship through the water
—and bringing the brushes or scrapers to bear on
the bottom of the ship. An arrangement of light
chains and ropes gives a certain means of moving
the cylinder upwards and downwards or forward
and aft as required in cleaning the ship's bottom.
So far as any judgment may be formed at present
of the capabilities of this invention it certainly ap-
pears that no ship supplied with them need ever be
allowed to have a foul bottom, or, having one, the
means of cleansing it is certain, and but the work

of a short time. -
The East In diaman Walmer Castle has been taken
up by the Hon. Council of India for the conveyance
of reinfoicements for the Royal Artillery and cavalry
and infantry troops serving in the Madras Presi-
dency, an order has been received at Chatham
directing her to be held in readiness to embark her
troops at Gravesend on the 11th inst. for Madras.
The.lst battalion 17th Regiment, unidsetirntgbe
of 36
com-
mand of Col. W. Gordon, and conGso
rank and
officers, 46 sergeants, 19 druhmildmreersn
'left Aldershott
file, 110 women, and
Camp on Thursday, anldB9p ceeded by special train
from Farnborough to Pdortrlsosirnouth, for conveyance
est Suffolk) Regiment
to Devonport.
leave Aldershott at an early
is held in readinerssheto63
date, and will proceed as follows :—Four companies
to Ayr, two companies to Paisley, and four com-
panies and bead-quarters to Glasgow.
During the past week the division at Aldershott,
under the command of Lieut.-Gen. the Hon. Sir
James Yorke Scarlett, K.C.8., has been exercised
in various field-day manceuvres on different days.
On Monday the Cavalry Brigade, under the com-
mand of Major-Gen. Hodge, C. 8., was exercised
in the Long Valley, and on the same day the Ist
Infantry Brigade, under the command of Brigadier-
Gen. Kenny, marched to the common and was put
through some field movements. Orders were issued
on Tuesday for a field-day of the whole division, to
be held on Wednesday, but, owing to extremely
unfavourable weather, the orders were subsequently
cancelled. On Friday, however, the division, with
the exception of the Royal Engineers and Military
Trains, turned out for field manoeuvres, and formed