The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-21 00:00:00

of the non-receipt of the lists of individuals recom-
mended for those rewards by commanding officers,
it is particularly requested that in future these lists
may be prepared and posted so as to • each the
Horse Guards by the Ist of April in each year.
" The subject of the preservation (a cast-iron
guns, howitzers, and carronades havin,: been under
consideration, it has been decided tha. the general
nse of tompions shall again be resorted to ; that the
vents of all guns, &c., not required to be kept in
immediate readiness for service, shall be stopped
with putty ; and that the guns, to be kept in
readiness shall have their vents stopped with plugs
made of gutta percha. The tampions have junk
wads, slightly of high gauge, attached to them, and
patterns for the several natures of guns are about
to be sealed. Officers commanding Royal Artil-
lery will therefore put forward, without delay, a
general demand (in duplicate) for the above stores,
showing on the face of the demand the several de-
tached forts or batteries for which each article is
required. The Secretary of State for War has
approved the leaf of the tangent bar of Arm-
strong's 100-pounder and 30-pounder guns being
altere, by cutting off the angles, so as to pre-
sent the notch for the sight at the top of a pointed
instead of a flat surface. A new pattern canvas
cover for 12-pounder Armstrong guns has been ap-
proved, and will be supplied in the proportion of
one per gun. These covers are to be considered as
articles of battery equipment, and when not in use
are to be carried on the footboards of the limbers of
ammunition waggons. When Armstrong guns are
not required for use they are to be cleaned, their
vent-pieces screwed up, levers detached and taken
away, a small quantity of greased hemp or waste
cotton put into the slot round the vent-pieces, and a
fid placed in the muzzle. A new pattern shell and
fuze key, suitable for all the present Armstrong
fuzes and plugs, has been adopted into the service;
this key will supersede the present field-service fuze
key, but batteries having shells with white-metal
plugs will retain the old pattern keys until they
are provided with shells fitted with gun-metal
plugs. A sliding garrison carriage for the 100-
pounder Armstrong gun, land service, when
mounted on a dwarf traversing platform, has been
sealed as a pattern to govern supplies."
A notification has been received at Chatham that
the next examination of candidates for direct com-
missions will commence on Monday, Nov. 4 next,
on which day the examination of candidates for ap-
pointments to the Commissariat Department will
also commence. The examinations for admission to
the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, will com-
mence on Dec. 16 next. The competitive examina-
tion of candidates for Royal Artillery and Royal
Engineers at the Royal Military Academy, Wool-
wich, will be held on Jan. 6, 1862.
A highly interesting lecture has just been de-
livered in the garrison schoolroom, Sheerness, by
Commander Scott, Royal Navy, on the. subject of
"Maritime Defence and Naval Ordnance."
Col. Dixon, who has partially recovered from his
attack of paralysis, has left the camp at Colchester
for six months on sick leave, Major Westhead, on
the staff of the 9th battalion, has exchanged with
Major Swaffield, of the 31st Regiment.
The con tract for the new barrack buildings at
Colchester has not yet been taken. The formation
of an artesian well, recently commenced, is proceed-
ing steadily.