The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-21 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The garrison order iissued a few days back by
Major-General Eyre, commanding the Chatham
district, inviting the officers and troops of the gar-
rison to enter into a subscription for the relief of
the unparalleled amount of distress at present
existing, has been responded to in a most liberal
spirit by all ranks in the service connected with
the garrison. A committee, composed of officers
and clergymen connected with the army, has been
appointed to receive the donations of the officers
and men, the commanding officers of the various
corps heading the lists with liberal subscriptions.
The subscription has not been confined to the
troops stationed in the barracks and huts, but the
invalid soldiers at the general hospital, Fort Pitt,
have likewise intimated their wish to subseribe,
and during a few days upwards of £lO was col-
lected from the medical officers and patients at that
establishment.
___ _

The members of the Army Hospital Corps Com-
mission, having completed their preliminary in-
quiries at Chatham garrison, have notified their
intension of visiting the headquarters of the corps
at Fort Pitt to-morrow morning, when they will
make a complete inspection of that large hospital,
and also receive evidence in order to ascertain the
working of the corps at that establishment.
The expectation that the proposed new barracks
at Colchester will shortly be commenced has been
confirmed by the fact that the plans prepared by
the IVar•office have been sent down for the inspec-
tion of the local military authorities, who have
returned them after examination. The construction
of the barracks is expected to occupy about 18
months.

The General Commanding-in-Chief has been
pleased to appoint Brevet-Lieut.-Col. Laye, of the
4th depot battalion, to the 9th depot battalion, at
the camp at Colchester. Lieut.-Col. Laye served
in New Zealand in 1846-7, and in 1855 joined the
Staff in Turkey, being appointed assistant military
secretary to Lord William Paulet. Staff-Surgeon
Webb has taken charge of the 9th battalion, in
exchange with Staff-Surgeon Scott.
An order has been issued by the military autho-
rities that an extra blanket shall be issued to each
man of the troops stationed at Portsmouth and

Weymouth for use during the present inclement
weather. An extra allowance of fuel has also been
ordered to be issued to the troops stationed at
Gosport.
The alarming increase in the number and nature
of the crimes recently committed by soldiers con•
nected with Chatham garrison within the adjoining
borough of Rochester formed the subject of inquiry
by the mayor and magistrates of that city at the
Guildhall on Saturday afternoon. For several
weeks past a Court for the transaction of magiste-
rial business has been scarcely once held at Roches-
ter but one or more soldiers have been charged
before the magistrates with offences committed
within the city, and on Saturday out of seven pri-
soners brought before the mayor and magistrates
five were soldiers, three of whom were charged
with having committed a burglary, and also
attempting to commit a second burglary at a watch-
maker's the same night, while one of the other sol-
diers charged was proved to have been a convict
who had completed his term of transportation, and
who admitted after he was arrested that he was out
of barracks with the intention of perpetrating a
burglary that night. From the inquiry instituted
by the magistrates as to the cause of the alarming
increase in the number of military offences within
their jurisdiction, it transpired that until recently
the pickets despatched every evening from the
garrison were in the habit of patrolling the
streets of Rochester, as well as Chatham, until
a late hour each night, when every soldier
found absent from barracks without leave after
a certain hour was arrested and confined. For
some cause, the reason for which was not stated
to the magistrates, the pickets have recently
been wholly withdrawn from Rochester, and,
as a consequence, some of the very worst
characters known to be in the army now resort
to the city after nightfall in order to carry on their
depredations, of course enjoying comparative immu-
nity from the absence of the pickets, and throwing
an additional amount of labour on the borough
police force. It was also stated to the magistrate
that numbers of soldiers, many of the most desperate
character, are indiscriminately granted leave of
absence from barracks for the night, and in proof of
which it appeared that two of the soldiers that day
charged with burglary had passes on them when
apprehended, which permitted them to remain out
of barracks the whole night. The magistrates at
the close of the inquiry directed the chief officer of
police to lay a statement of the facts which had
transpired before Major-Gen. Eyre, commanding
the forces at Chatham, and intimated that unless
something were done to lessen the number of
offences by the military within the city they should
feel it their duty to lay the matter before the Home
Secretary.