The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-26 00:00:00

. .
tom will prevent her ' oeing turned,u in the event of
any sudden emergent y, such as she is likely to meet
among the coral reef ; of the Eastern seas, or the
crowded water high- ways of our own seagirt isle,
except at the expens e of stewards' crockery painful
to contemplate. To unpractised voyagers I should
explain that the samerprinciple in natural philosophy
which makes a circu t; horse lean towards the centre
of the ring causes a : steamship to do the same, if
suddenly compelled t 0 veer at a high angle to her
previous course. 111 peat, the strength and pro-
portions of this noble . ship are such as to preclude
the idea of danger ; butt, as to absolute freedom from
motion, a sea abeam of only 250 feet from crest to
crest (i.e., a sea at right angles to her direct course)
will certainly cause her t 3 roll, and, having no keel, '
she will roll worse than u sual. Old ocean is proud
of this last splendid speci men of enterprise, but he
is not resigned to being utterly ignored by young
ladies and seedy dandies ; nor will he, even at the
price of a big ship, submit to be ridden over rough-
shod. Let us be content with an average of 20
miles an hour, a safe route to our Eastern posses-
sions, and exemption from motion, save in excep-
tional cases, and let us bid the good ship " God
speed," and wish her spirited officials,from the Chai-
rman and Capt. Harrison downwards, a pleasant,
rapid voyage, and a great commercial success.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
YATES ANTE FACTUM.

THE WESTMINSTER CLOCK.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—A letter in the Times of yesterday, signed
" Charles Barry," informs us—and informs me for
the first time—that the only person responsible
for the hands and for all the going parts of the
clock in the Clock-tower of the House of Commons
is Mr. Denison.
If this be so the public, I think, would be very
glad if Sir Charles Barry would further inform
them by whose authority Mr. Denison was placed
in this position of responsibility. I made the in-
quiry in the House of Commons, but I was not able
to obtain any satisfactory answer.
We all know that £20,000 of public money has
been spent on this clock. What we have got for
our money we do not know, beyond having an or-
dinary clock of which, after several years, one face
alone is made use of, and a bell of no ordinary
sound, but better suited to be used for tolling on
great solemn occasions than for the ordinary use of
a clock-hell.
But what I want to know is, who authorised
Mr. Denison to have anything to do with the busi-
ness ? Is Mr. Denison a professed clockmaker, or
a sub-contractor who has undertaken the contract
which we all understood to have been given to Mr.
Dent ? Or is he merely an amateur who has been
consulted on the occasion by the Chief Commis-
sioner of the Board of Works ? If the latter, may
we hope that his services may be speedily dis-
pensed with, as I think that we should all feel
more safe if the further arrangements connected
with this very costly piece of mechanism were in-
trusted to the management of some professional
clockmaker, such as Mr. Dent, who would be really
made responsible if the work is found to be to any
considerable extent a failure—a failure, at least, in
obtaining such a clock and bells as the public have
a right to expect for an expenditure of £20,000. ?
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
THOMAS HANKEY.

45, Portland-place, Aug. 25.
P.S. Since writing the foregoing I have read
Mr. Denison's letter in this day's paper. Ile may
be quite right in refuting Sir C. Barry's assertion,
but the question I think is still deserving a reply
as to the authority under which Mr. Denison may
have been acting in this public matter.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—Sir Charles Barry, in his letter which ap-
pears in to-day's impression of the Tinzes, gives the
weight of the hands of the Parliament Tower clock
faces-1 cwt. 251 b. each ; their length, though their
balances may in some degree steady them in windy
weather, requires curb (as well as flattish triangu-
lar section) to maintain them in position.
In a submission of movement of the minute-hand,
which Sir Charles some years since laid before the
New Palace Commissioners, a .movement to syn-
chronise its position with that of the hour hand at
every figure (their subtensions being always in di-
rect relation to circle-degrees, i. e., 6 degrees to 1
minute of time), provision was contemplated of
having a riband circlet from each hand's head, or
index, around the dial to receive conjunction•radii
from the centre—which wheel-like formation would
equalise the strain, if not neutralise it entirely.
Such countervailment might now be adopted,
without regard to a better exhibiting of time's flux.
Your favour of space may allow me to state that,
were hour-hands curb-riband graduated into 60 di-
visions (the larger ones of 5 minutes each being
numbered 5 to 11, leaving blank the 12, which the
hour hand indicates), the minute's lapse would be
shown by similar intervals to those in use, yet 1:ot
ever in relation to the 12th hour line, whatsoever
hour current ; but in relation to the hour figure we
mention in our accustomed describing as 25 mi-
nutes past 12, 25 minutes to 1, &c.
The graduating to accord with the acceleration I
proposed for showing, by both hands on the figure,
the consummation of each hour, and proportionate
parts of current hour by the arc between the in-
dices' was to be made, not on a moving, but on the
mural periphery of the dial ; this progression of
the minute-hand = circle and 1-12th in an
hour places the two hands at each half-
hour in diameter, and at every quarter hour
(24) at right angles ; also, at the 5, 10, 20, 25,
minutes past or to, the hands will be similarly
situate between the respective near hour-lines, and
must necessarily subdivide every pace between
hour radii into sixths.
Winter will arrive, but if the proposal merely to
have a balancing border connecting each hand's
pointer with other spokes from the nave of the same
movement shall be resorted to, hours and minutes'
exhibition may not in all probability suffer hiatus.
—I am, Sir, yours respectfully,
WILLIAM WALDRON.
Castle View, Leicester, Aug. 24.