The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-31 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

By orders front the Admiralty, a commission has
been formed to inquil.e .into and report upon the
best mode of ventilating ships of war. Among
the members composing the commission are Capt.
A. P. E. Wilmot, RN., C.B. ; Mr. G. Mur-
doch, inspector .nf machinery afloat at Portsmouth ;
and Mr. J. B. Peake, master shipwright at Devon-
port Vockyard. - They hold their first meeting at
PortsAidnth to-day.

It is reportedron good authority that the Donegal,
101, screw, Capt. Sherard Osborne, is the ship that
has been selected by the Admiralty to accompany
the Warrior on her first trial trip at sea.
The Duncan, 101, screw, on her trial of speed at
the measured mile, in Stokes Bay on Monday,
realised a speed of 13 knots, with the common two-
btadr readin‘r, Id blades fitted

At an early hour yesterday morning his Royal
Highness the Duke of Cambridge had the whole of
the officers and men of the Royal Engineers assem-
bled on their parade ground in `Brompton Barrack-
square, where, soon after 8 o'clock, General Sir J. F.
Burgoyne, G.C.8., Inspector-General of Fortifica-
tions, apd. several other general officers, arrived.
TEien -CirmmenTietftir inspection .of the ovetisOnthighl
past
included the various amalgamated companies of
Royal and Indian Engineers now at head-quarters.
thetim e,ana Engineers
executingm arc marching nfegw
other inniasnlocewuvarneds.
Thequick
inspecting officers next proceeded to the fieldworks,
between Brompton Barracks and the river Medway,
wherAthe Roy al an d Indian Engineers are instructed
in throwing up earth Works, excavating trenches
and stiPs, And forming' bridges. Here 'his Royal
HighneSti spent nearly two hours in the examina-
tion of various :works on which the Engineers
have been; employed in ,the course of ,the summer.
During his, inspeetign his Royal Highness and the,
other distinguished officers examined with much
interest an invention' by Major Lovell, Royal En-
gineers, by Which si`ny'number of mennmay be em-
ployed in sapping eldse up: to• the; enemy's lines
without the slightest fear of being• exposed to a
hostile fire. Hi Royal Highness then proceeded
to witness some experiments with four different
descriptions of pontoons, in order to ascertain
which_ was the best adapted for use in the
service. The pontoons were moored in St.
Mary's Creek, and a bridge formed, extending
nearly across that arm of the Medway. The pon-
toons tested were the ordinary barrel pontoons; those
known as General Blanshard's, which are now
used in the service; a pontoon invented by the
late General Sir Charles Pasley; and a most valu-
able invention by Capt. F. Fowke, Royal Engineers:
In order to ascertain the maximum weight each'
description of pontoon would sustain, a'l6-pounder
field-piece, with carriage complete, weighing about
42ewt., was wheeled backward and foiward across-
the raft by about 50 men, whose additional weight
was, of courae, thrown on the bridge. The ordinary
Blanshard pontoons, which were moved 8 feet
4 inches apart, bore the strain well, the "dip" in
the water being very trifling. On the Weight being
thrown on the Pasley pontoons, however, they
were almost entirel7 submerged. These pontoons
were placed at intervals of 12 feet 6 inches. Capt.
Fowke's pontoons are made of a light kind of can-
vass, of great strength, and waterproof. When a
pontoon is in use it is Stretched to the required form,
and assumes the dppearance of a small barge. The
sustaining power of these pontoons, however, is
very considerable ...and, this: was fully evidenced in
the tri3.4-';regtam---Al4irceas4rlc+4etavttvattt-erIK-r
bore the strain thrown upon them without any
apparent yielding. There is little doubt that in a
short time this pontoon will supersede all others
now in use, possessing, as it does, among other
superior advantages, that of great portability. His
Royal Highness, after leaving the pontoon-hard,
proceeded to another portion of the fieldworks to
witness some subaquaeous explosions and also the
destruction of a four-gun battery, built accordsng
to the principles laid down by Sir John Burgoyne.
The submarine explosions in St. Mary's Creek was
undertaken to show the ease with which piles,
barriers, or any other obstruction in rivers or har-
bours might be removed, the charges of powder
sunk to the required depth, being ignited by means
of the voltaic battery. Although the quantity of
powder was by no means large the force
expended. " was very great, the water,
the irstant the powder was fired, being

forced up to a height of fully 100 feet in a fine spiral
column. The 4 gun battery destroyed had been
several weeks in hand by the Royal Engineers. It
consisted of an elevated and half-sunken portion,
beneath which galleries were driven for depositing
the powder. The weight cf gunpowder required to
destroy this mass of earthwork was 5801 b., deposited
in three charges of 100 lb. each, and two of 1401 b.
each. The instant the powder was ignited—which
in this instance was accomplished with Col. Oude's
fuse, as well as the voltaic pile—the entire battery
crumbled into dust, and was tossed to a great height
into the air, which was for an instant darkened.
Tne Duke left the garrison shortly before 1 o'clock
Yesterday (Tuesday) morning Major-General T.
Bloomfield, Inspector-General of Artillery, accom-
panied by his aide-de-camp, Brevet-Major C. C.
Teesdale, C. 8., inspected Companies No. 1, 4,5, and
6 Royal Artillery, in Plymouth Citadel, under com-
mand of Col. Ashton A. Shuttleworth, Lieut.-Col.
tEa
onvnda. Evan
iaun ebem r
drill,el enya, Cd were. Bi
n.
e,
xatenarrdcgi
seLet
di e
piunrt. a-eCtiocl. mortare. R. r Hirl isCht itehefer-
Citadel Gen. Bloomfield intended to go to Bull Point
powder works, and to-day (Wednesday) he inspects
at Maker, near Mount Edgcumbe, Company No. 7
and Company No. 8, which is a field battery.
Major R. Curtis, 5 sergeants, 5 corporals, 5 bom-
bardiers, and 23 gunners, forming a portion of No. 3
battery 13th brigade Royal Artillery, landed at
Gravesend from the Lady Jane, from Calcutta, yes-
terday arrived at Woolwich, to be attached to the
depot at head-quarters. The other portion has pro-
ceeded overland.

THE CENSUS FOR SCOTLAND.--One of the chief
causes, perhaps the main cause of the delay in the publica-
tion of the census returns for Scotland, which has been so
much complained of, was the insufficiency numerically of
the staff of clerks allowed at the Registrar-General's office
For the compilation and arrangement of the returns for
Scotland only four clerks were available, for those of Eng-
land they had in London sixty clerks, while in Dublin they
had no fewer than one hundred. For England, with its
eighteen millions of population, the proportion of clerks in
the London office is not unreasonable, but that Ireland,
with less than double the population of Scotland, should
have required for its census a hundred clerks, while we were
compelled to manage with four, surely requires explana-
tion.—Scotsman.
inwht where it was
districts, except in the low and wet positions,
could be produced
apparent many weeks ago that no ho
ids the bine, though
TioHNso.P_AI INTELLIGENCE.—THE
generalE LL G
improvementE N eE .T I
isE reportedE N T I 811 Ph L
severalANTA
this season. On the favoured
mpra _ng,
and
more than usually tender and sensitive,ishandlosks
asi promising
as
the burr is rapidly coming forth,
ties there is every prospect of the crop
last
and Surrey.—The weather for thefew
Sussex
year. unfavourable. Though the boisterous winds
days has been
the effect of diminishing
and occasional showers have had
vermin in most of the plantations, the bine, where at all
weakly,the
does not grow, and the burr, even in the best of
the high winds of the past wee will albloswin.g
alsnbwaedt
as
sclaasli-t
ua
than usual.
to
however, develop
genial itself
weather slower and n
should
lesso u l d
kindly
ensue
there may still be a sprinkling of hops. Farnham, Alton,
and Country Districts, July 27.—Since our last the planta-
tions have made very little progress, and unless we get a
aituon
higher temperature immediately, we do not believe we shall
get a larger crop than last year. Worcester.—There is
nothing (says the Worcester Herald) new to report of our
hop plantations ; where the bine is good it is progressing
favourably and coming into burr, but the weak bine comes
on very slowly, and will be able to do little or nothing this
season. Fine dry weather is much needed. Duty for the
district estimated at £12,000.