The Portland daily press., 1868-12-01
Miscellany.



TULA AND IT'S MANUFACTURES.
A correspondent of the New York Even
ing Post, writing from Tuia, town about
l20 miles south OF Moscow, on the Great
Southern Railway, thus describes one OF the
features OF this town, which has been called
the Russian Birmingham:
This Is the centre OF the cutlery. gunnefy
and hardware manufactures of Russia; and
indeed 1t seemed as ii every house were a
hara ware shop. have never seen such
Quantities OF sGm0rGrs (tea machi 1es) pis-
tolls. guns, knives, canliesticks. and all imaei-
nab e sorts OF metal WORK. The pistols are
exec lent, aud many Of them are sold in Par
Is and London, with English mark ), as the
works OF English makers. The best cutter,
Is vory good, out the ordinary sorts are very
bad. A great deal OF silver fiiagree work
an old industry in Ru STA, as fine as that OF
Genoa, is made here, and quantities OF silver
and gold niellO work is manufactured, which
Is SOLD, to those who know no better, as the
genuine production of the Caucasus.
AS lula is as well known in RusSia as
Sheffield In Engand-there is picture on
the outside OF a CHURCH at Moscow, represent
Ing the Sacrifice OF Isaac. in which The knife
he'd os Abraham Is marked "Tua"-I had
expected to find, as in Sheffield, large facto-
res with smoky chimneys and all the other
disagreeaole evidences OF manufactures
town. There is, however, nothing of the
sort. The government rife works is the only
large building, except one private gun factory
oil medium size. Almost exclusively the
whole manufacture of samovars, guns and
cutlery Is carried on in small shops, where
only single part is made. These various
parts are then in another shop. The workers
on IRE arms reside in distinct quarter. call
ed oruzhenn0e, or gun town, formerly a dis
tipct village, but now part OF the city.
Between the river and the suburb, and Just
opposite to the Kremiin, are the extensive
gun factories OF the government, which were
erected by an Englishnan named Trewheller
and are considered to be among the finest in
Europe. The machinery Is turned by water
brough: from the dam in the river in large
iron pipes six feet In diameter, and SO well
protected aud heated that the works 20 as
we'll In winter as in summer. The works are
now III der the charge OF General Standersk.
lold, Swedish Finn, who has the lease un-
ger contract tor the manufacture of breech-
leaders and the conversion OF old rifles. He
receives also compensation from the Gov
eminent tor the superintendent. The Gen.
erai himself very obligingly showed me
through the whole establishment, and gave
me an opportunity OF inspecting the whole
process. Among the machines were some
interesting ones OF his own invention. E ,ch
rifle goes through thirty-eignt distinct plo.
cesses before 1t is complete. The system now
used Is that OF Carrie, though some rifles are
being converted according to another. The
gun OF earle Is needle-gun In principle, sim
pie In construction, and not liable to get out
OF order. 1t fires fourteen lines in a minute.
1 have seen 1t stated that breech loader will
never be OF service in the hands of clumsy
Russian soldier but the Russian peasant il
not half so clumsy as he seems. If he is al
ways breaking agricultural machines, II Is
through ill-wlll and dislike to innovation.
and not through stupidity. The common
est peasant learns In day TO manage the
and needs no instruction alter tiat. When
the guns are finished they are inspected by
the proper officers, and are proved by firing
nVe rounds, when each bullet must bit tar
get ten inches high by six inches wide, the
shape as man's breast. At the recent re-
view by, the Emperor, at Warsaw, twelve
thousand men fired fourteen rounds in min
ute at three hundred PAGES, and every shot
loij. The Prussian officers In attendance
were greatly delighted and astonished. In
his factory three hundred workmen are en-
ployed, and SIX hundred rifles are turned out
laiiy, besides large quantity OF chambers,
wnlcn are sent to the Caucasus to be used
mere III the conversion of old rifles. The |
brother of General Standefskold has large
gun factory at Izhev, in the government O, /
Yiatka, where he employs twenty thousand |
Rorkmen. They expect BY the end of next |
ear 10 nave finished nine hundred thousand |
ines. On asking If the workmen stole much.
was told that the loss from that source was
nearly ten per cent 1t is impossible to pre- |
vent It, as there are so many doors that it is |!
impossible to search the workmen, as they do |
most OF the factories in Moscow.