The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-14 00:00:00

THE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT.

THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION.
In the autumn of last year the National Rifle
Association invited gunmakere to a competition at
Hythe, in order to establish the superior merit of
the best rifle. The prize of the competition was the
supply of 20 rifles of the successful pattern to be
presented by the Association to the best shots at
the next national meeting at Wimbledon. The
competition was appointed for Tuesday last, on the
practice ground at the School of Musketry ; and as
the day approached there was reason to expect that
at least half-a-dozen of the best makers would take
part in the contest ; bat Mr. Whitworth has carried
off all the honours. At the appointed hour on
Tuesday morning General Hay, Colonel Wilford,
Captain Coles, and other officers of the School of
Musketry, with Lord Elcho and Captain Mildmay,
of the National Rifle Association, came on the
practice-ground. There were also present Mr.
Whitworth, of Manchester ; Mr. Edge, of Man-
chester ; Mr. Henry, of Edinburgh ; Mr. Smith,
London, armonrer to the National Association ; Mr.
Fletcher, Glocester ; and Mr. Reeves, Birmingham
—these last gentlemen being gnnmakers, but only
the gentlemen first named came with any intention
of taking part in the competition. Invitation was
the to persons to compete in terms of the offer of
to which a response was made on
thrucal7 MIL: Whitworth alone. At a repetition of
yAlexander.h Henry, of St. Andrew-
street, Edintc.
pilling
forward and announced
that he was botaig;hi
,initg and anxious to compete,
but as his rifle
_wlecnilwdere sporting rifles, and
not military Aih.,*
not fit the mechanical
School rest provided by the,
of Musketry, and no
other rest was then at command, he was pre-
cluded from entering on the contest in the form in
which it was invited, thou h h
g e was ready to
eennr.l ay
com-
pete in any manner on equal terms,
expressed his sympathy with Mr. HGera
disappointment as to the " rest," and said ythant, the
his
competition being limited by the regulations laid
down there was no alternative but to abide by those
regulations as to the method of procedure. A third
call being then given, and no response coming thereto,
Gen. Hay declared Mr. Whitworth to be the success.
ul candidate, Mr. Ifenry then addressed the General,

and said that as he had been unable from not previ-
onsly understanding the peculiar construction of
the military rest, to enter on the comp- lid= for
the supply of the prize rifles, he was willing, by
way of test of the relative merits of rifles, to back
his claim to the superiority of tiz rifle with a chal-
lenge of £lOO. With this challen: e, of course,
Gen. Hay could not deal, and no other person ap-
peared to take it up. It had been expected that
Mr. Edge would enter the lists against Mr. Whit-
worth, but it became understood on the ground that
that gentleman declined to contend, unless each
competitor used the same rest, Mr. Whitworth
having availed himself of the offer of the association
to the makers to bring their own rests on the
ground for the use of their own rifles. The formal
proceedings having closed, the rifle of Mr. Henry '
was then carefully scrutinised by the officers pre-
sent, of whom there were a large number, and sub-
jected to a trial at the targets, at 900 and 1,000
yards' distances, for four hours. The trial was
watched with lively interest, The bullets were
placed in the targets at 1,000 yards' distance from
a sandbag rest in a line not exceeding three feet
long by 30 inches broad.

On Saturday last the London Rifle Brigade being
prevented by the weather from marching out, at-
tempted, for the first time under such circum-
stances, battalion drill in the Guildhall. Thebatta-
lion first formed was paraded by Lieut.-Colonel
Hicks, the second by Major Rose. The great con-
course of spectators drawn together by the spectacle
circumscribed the numberand size of the companies,
so as to exclude a large number of members who
were present and desirous of falling in; still as an
experiment the parade gave great satisfaction to
all concerned, proving that a good drill may be
obtained even on the " wet Saturdays" which have
hitherto so interfered with exercise.

The Rev. W. Thomson, D.D., Preacher of Lin-
coln's-inn, Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and
Chaplain in Ordinary to her Majesty, has been
nominated Hon. Chaplain to the Inns of Court
Corps; and Mr. Walter Coulson, of St. Mary's
Hospital (nephew of the late Mr. W. Coulson,
Q.C.), is appointed surgeon. The following gen_
tlemen have also been elected members of the
committee :—Mr. J. C. Selwyn, Q.C., M.P. ; Mr.
T. Chitty, Sir H. M'C. Cairns, Q.C., M.P., Mr. K.
Parker, Captain Bulmer, Captain Chitty, the
Hon. A. F. 0. Liddell, Mr. A. Bailey, Mr. H. Hob-
house, and Mr. W. P. Murray.
The 2d Hants Volunteer Artillery Corps held
their first annual meeting at their head-quarters,
High-street, Portsmouth, on Monday evening, for
the election of non-commissioned officers to vacan-
cies, and to receive the report on the financial state
of the corps for the year ending the 31st of Dec.,
1860. At the conclusion of the election of non-
commissioned officers the balance•sheet (copies of
which were distributed to each member) was read
to the meeting. After the balance-sheet had been
read the commandant of the corps, Major Hall
(barrackmaster at Portsmouth), addressed the meet-
ing. At the conclusion of the gallant officer's
address the resignation of the commandant was
brought before the meeting. The Artillery Volun-
teers of Hampshire have been formed into one
administrative brigade, the command of which has
' been conferred by the Lord-Lieutenant of the
county on the Assistant-Master Shipwright of
Portsmouth Dockyard, Lieut.-Colonel Sturdee,
commanding the 3d Hants (Dockyard) Artillery
Volunteers, and holding superior volunteer rank to
any other officer in the brigade. The commandant
of the 2d Hants being a military man, and holding
an official position in the garrison, intimated his
disinclination to retain the command of his corps
under such circumstances. It has been resolved by
the corps to entertain their commandant at a
banquet prior to his resigning his command, and
steps have been already taken to carry out the
project.
At the monthly parade of the 2d Cinque Ports
Artillery, on the sth inst., Captain Boys, R.N.
first lieutenant), presented a silver watch, with
suitable inscription, and a purse of ten sovereigns,
to Master Gunner Greenwood, R.A., as an expres-
sion of respect from the officers and gunners of the
corps, to whom he has for the past 12 months
acted as drill instructor.

Captain Page, senior adjutant of the Edinburgh
Rifle Regiment, has been appointed to the adju-
tancy of the London Scottish. The admirable
manner in which this officer discharged his duties
on the occasion of the Holyrood review is said
to have commended him to the notice of Lord
Elcho, who was a close and active spectator on that
memorable occasion. The Edinburgh Rifle Regi
ment assembled on Saturday for the first time this
year, and marched several miles into the country.
It is said that the Lord Advocate is about to resign
the office of Lieut.-Col. Commandant, his profes-
sional and public avocations preventing him from
devoting sufficient time to the duties. Captain
111‘Donald, of the 4th Artisan Company, has been
appointed major of the 2d battalion, but no similar
appointment has yet been made for the first.
A special parade of the Hallamshire Rifles (Shef-
field Volunteers) was held on Tuesday evening,
and a letter was read from Lord Wharncliffe, ac-
cepting the appointment of Lieut.-Colonel. Several
gentlemen of high standing in the town were no-
minated as officers of the new companies raised,
and to fill vacancies created by promotions, and the
greatest unanimity and good feeling prevailed.
On Monday evening the men of the 13th Wor-
cestershire Rifle Volunteers assembled at the Guild-
' hall, at Worcester, in consequence of an intimation
from their Captain (M'Leod) of his intention to
resign the post of commanding officer. Captain
M'Leod explained that this necessity arose, not
from any diminished interest which he took in the
corps, but from the fact that being an officer in the
regular army—the Madras Artillery—he had been
called upon to do active duty in his own regiment.

17A.RNINGS OF THE APPROACH OF

STORMS.

Admiral Fitzroy writes to the Times that all the
much-frequented parts of our coasts might have
been warned—a very few places were actually
warned—three days before the recent storm. On
Wednesday last the following notice was given at
Aberdeen, Hull, Yarmouth, Dover, Liverpool,
Queenstown, Valentia, and Galway (besides other
places), by telegraph—" Caution : Gale threaten-
ing from south-west and then northward. Show
signal drum." This signal referred to the follow-
ing plan, organised at the Board of Trade, but not
yet in full operation :

A staff and two canvas shapes being provided,
will
the following use be made of them occasion-
ally—perhaps once
or twice in a month. One
shape—that of a drum
three
The other shape,
dfee
er
t) , has(se e
seen any
oamp p ear-
ance of a black square
, point of view), when suspended.
a cone three feet bigh,app a
(oo fr eyr
any point of view), when triangular (from
esihended. A cone,
with the point upwards, shows that
pro-
bable from the northward. A cone, a. gale is
pre
o, thefro pointm
the
downwards, shows that a gale is
southward. A drum, alone, shows that dangerous
winds may be expected from nearly opposite quar-
ters successivel7. A cone and drum give warning
of dangerous wind, its probable first direction being
shown by the position of the cone—point up, and
above the drum, for polar or northerly wind; down,
and below, for southerly. Whenever such a signal
is shown (in consequence of a telegram from LOU-
don) it will be kept up—shown distinctly—till
dusk of that day only, unless otherwise instructed
afterwards. These cautionary or warning signals
advert to winds during part of the next following
two or three days ; and therefore due vigilance
should prevail from the beginning of such time
until the weather is again thoroughly settled. No
further steps are necessary for these objects at the
telegraph stations for the present. Other organi-
sation may follow when the coast-guard have pre-
pared arrangements for repeating these signals
along the coast, to certain distances. A conspi-
cuous place should be selected for signalling near
the telegraph station.

Admiral Fitzroy adds :—" Adverting to frequent
.expressions of surprise at the rising of a barometer
:with or before northerly gales, I would here re-
peat what has been reiterated and explained else-
(where—that the air is lighter, as well as warmer,
wring southerly winds ; heavier and colder before
nd during northerly ; and that the influence of
ither is shown by instruments some hours, if not
a
Yat berate actual alteration is visiole to ordinary
notice."