The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-11 00:00:00

ALFRED

I remain,
Newcastle, March 1, 1828.

GRAND IMPROVEMENT.

On Thursday last a steam boat performed FLICTII3S-
fuIIy her first voyage from Rotherhithe to -Woolwich,
with improved paddle-wheels, constructed on a new
principle of obviating realstance from fluids. By
the paddle-wheels hitherto used no increase of velo
city is gained by the inereaa-of payer of the steam
engine, these having a maximum of velocity, beyond
which a vessel cannot be propelled by them, what-
ever or however high the power may be : as for in-
stance, a proportioned vessel and load, with a twenty
horse steam engine, would be propelled by them with
as great a velocity as with a thousand horse power
steam engine. But by the improved paddle-wheels
any velocity desired is gained according to the power
of the steam engine.
Thus then navigation can be carried by a velocity
of thirty, forty, sixty, or a hundred miles an hour;
and most truly may the improvement which ef-
fects this be called grand ; for really grand
will be its effects, added, as no doubt it will
be, to the invention of rendering ships alwayG
buoyant by hollow tubes. It will give us the power of
exploring all quarters of the globe with safety, cheap-
ness, and ease ; and no more will the intrepid Parry
have to return from his boreal voyage with his ob-
ject unaccomplished. A couple of months at most,
when the full powers of the summer make hospitable
" the Frozen regiore, of the North," will sufnce hint
to attain his end, as these paddle-wheels will make
seven or eight days sufficient to carry him, at least
as far to the north as he has yet proceeded, and
nine or ten to bring him back, however far he mar
proceed. It will, as it were, approximate to adja-
cency the ends of the earth, bring the most distant
nations to each other's threshold, and with rail,
roads and steam carriages finally make all manUnd,
in spite of our modern political economists, one fa-,
roily, drawing them all int;, close neiehbourhood,
and uniting them all in bonds of peace, amity, and.
association.

The 116 W paddle-wheels will also avoid the loss of
power and"the disturbance of the water, which all
the others in use occasion; and the unpleasant shak-
ing or vibration caused in vessels by the working of
any other paddle-wheels, will likewise be entirely
obviated by these.
The ingenious inventor, Lieut. Andrew Skene,
of the Royal Navy, has lately taken outa patent for.
his paddle,wheels; and we are informed that the
boat fitted with them lies, for the inspection of
scientific men at Rotherhithe, and will occasionally
ply bet ween the bridges on the Thames.
We understand that Lieutenant Skene is also the
inventor of a new thermometer, the result of which
ty
it
shea
Celsus.tdheeg thermometers mohfee et
:nrrest:Conf ;:re
arl:fe:al:teltrr;:a
depends, titt ire
o'hinlceicitt,‘%l US'
certain phenomenas, namely, the different tempera-
tures at which water and mercury congeal; wheraan
the scales of the others are graduated on one gertain
and one uncertain phenomenon, viz., the e3n0164
tion and the vaporization of water, the latter of
which, that is, e vaporization, presents different
results under different pressures of the 'atmosphere,
as was felt by Captain Parry at.let;sihelsland, in
the want of agreement among,A the thermometers
which he employed on the. occasion—a fact which is
thus, rind can in no manner be accounted for.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER paid
the sum of 1,200/., transmitted to him by a person un-
known, for conscience sake, into the Exchequer, to the
credit of the Consolidated Fund.

The sea is making great inroads upon Sunder-
land town moor. Within the last few days, it has under-
mined the outer wall of the battery in as to cause its fall.
It is to be regretted that the long-disputed question of the
ownership to this is not derided, that some method might
be adopted to preserve so valuable a piece of ground from
the ravages of the Sea.—Durhttm Advertiser.

UNEMPLOYED WORKAIEN.--It vot,,:: some
time since mentioned that building was completely at .a
stand in this city and neighbourhood, and Ilene, the quar-
riers, carters, masons, labourers, joiners, in short the
whole of the various classes depending on that important
m
busins, have for some time been suffering severe pf,ra-
tions. Three meetings of the unemployed have beer:, held
on the Calton-hill during the week. At the last, beld on
Wednesday, upwards of three hundred were assembled. A
deep and settled melancholy clouded every countenance, and
their general squalid appearance, bore ample testimony to
their distress. After they had been addressed by some of
their number, it was resolved M prepare a memorial to. the
Loan PnovosT and Magistrates, stating their condition,
and praying relief. At another meeting held on Thurs-
day, in Skinner's Hall, two men were selected to wait on
CONVENr4 NiACLAeIAN, with the" memorial, and request
him to present it to the Loan PROVOST, Yesterday after-
noon the signatures to the petitirar. amounted to 567:
SCOISM

SHOCKING DEATII.—The individual whom
sv‘tr,eetntgtahweanye.d TIA.
hoilt
the. police reports from Lambeth-street office describe ea
the Rev. Mr. R., a minister of the Established Church,
,perished miserably on Sunday morning, in a watch-house
in the Hackney-road, He had been taken before the
Magistrates by the parish officers of Whitechapel, in order
proprietor of the
to his being passed to his own parish, under the Vagrant
Act, and was truly described as
utter destitution. 1n the course of Saturday he eltiled at
apparently in a ,L.,itteho:
the Caledonian Coffee-house, hi Shoreditch, and has a
sevenb classrea of
inaf breakfast
—sut»a
el
r,
t}
eveningil forai
afterwards,
whichteaeorf,va .ir hrd.es
,ojproa:vi ediy:i
seff,raeeen;(ll:
coffee-house), on his return }name, was informed that z
found the reverend
gentleman had been inquiring' for him, and desired to see
hint. He went to the King's Arms Inn, near his own re-
in the parlour, drinking ruin and water,
and smoking. ..4a
state which unfortunately seems to have been habitual, and
excited no surprise. He expressed a wish to take a lodging
in Mr. JoNes's house, observedthat
ha was about to re-
psdstireidenicaeentelesele'tid'is,
eacrlleoenr(!ecia
Ilia 1
ittl duties
r4()t:"...'h. o rTedaki tienlgi
smile greasy-looking
papers freilA 43 packet, which Mr. JosEs supposed to he
his settivall, the deceased asked him to read them, obserying,
that his own sight was then so dim that lie could not read,
but Mr. JuNrs declined, and went to his home shortly
afterwards, leaving the deceased, whom he never again
saw alive. Between 10 and 11 o'clock a watchman found.
the deceased lying in the road opposite Shoreditch church,
very much intoxicated, awl conveyed him to the watch-.
house, where he was laid upon his hack in the night con-
stable's apartment. The watch-house people say that be
continued very noisy throughout the night, praying and
preaching at intervals, until about five in the morning,
when he ceased, and they supposed he had fallen asleep.
About six o'clock, however, the night officer found him
apparently lifeless. At seven o'clock, a medical gentleman,
assistant to Mr. Wri.cii, was sent for, but life was then
quite extinct, the body cold, and in his opinion the unf)r-
tunate person ,must have been dead some hours. The
deceased was in a wretched state of filth, and covered with
vermin. He had no shirt on, but in his het was found a
clean shirt and a clerical band for the neck. The body
now lies for the inspeatior. of a Coroner's Jury.