The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-06-12

having wrought already naval revolu-
| ton. Her length is 225 feet, beam 30 feet,
| tonnage 2, 372 tons. She is protected by
1-2 inch armor. The remarkable feat
| ure in the ship is the arrangement for OBJ
tanning a direct gun fire ahead and astern
from ports in the angle Of the battery
The range of fire from indented ports Is
extended as much as possible by contract
| Ing the upper works before and abaft the
battery. The Pallas is propelled by a
single screw 10 feet in diameter. She has
| a record of 49, knots an hour
| The hull of the Pallas is of wood, solid
oak frames being fitted throughout be-
hind the armor. To enable the wooden
frames to stand the enormous strain
| from the screw propeller in working at
full. speed, the stern post and deadwood
| have been connected by means of internal
| iron bulwarks and external brass cast
| lngs, SO as to bind the whole of the stern
frame of the ship into one rigid mass.
| The weight of the armor plating is $50
| tons, and the hull is protected from stem
| to stern up to the height of the main
deck, and also over the whole extent of
| the central battery.
| The armament of the Pallas consists of
| four 12-ton guns two sixty -four Founders
and two 40-pounder Armstrong;. AS has
| been stated this battery is so contrived as
to permit two of the most powerful guns
| w UO lIcu dllliOSu IISuU duettQ OT rlSuU
astern. This arrangement has the great
advantage of allowing the deck above the
guns to be converted into a spar deck at
a great height above the water The
! fixed bulwarks rise no less than IS feet
| above the line of flotation. Very superior
sea-going qualities have thus been Sc
cured, while accommodation between
decks is afforded to the officers and men
to an extent unprecedented in small iron
| clad ships.
The Pallas, according to the opinion of
Sir Thomas Brassey, the naval expert
| from whom the facts in regard to the
vessel, are obtained, is in every respect
| a going vessel adapted for ocean SER
vice in any part of the world. She car
ries coal for steaming ten days continual
| ly at high speed.
The underwater armOr plating is
| sheathed with teak to prevent corrosion
| from the water. The bow of the Pallas
projects ten feet below the water, and is
| armed with a formidable spur.
| The Saco board of Pension Examiners
| is to consist of Drs. John Lord of Bidde-
| ford, Jasper D. Cochrane of Saco, and
| H. " Noyes of Berwick. All the boards
| for the counties of York and Cum berland
are now completed. There have been
generally several candidates for each posi-
| tion, and it has not in all cases been easy
| to determine the relative merits between
them. All these boards fell without the
civil service order, which includes only
| those where the annual receipts are over
$500. Both Bath, Augusta and Bangor
were above the limit and are under civil
| service. There were more candidates for
| the Portland board than any other, many
of them being physicians of long practice
and eminence. DIR. j. f. Day. now of
Saco, made strong contest to retain his
| -. +1,a J. III 10 u. L
was appointed three years ago on the
recommendation of John B. Donovan and
| Charles B. Morton or to be appointed on
| the Saco board. But his removal from
Alfred to Saco last year justified his
going off the Alfred board, and brought
him into competition for the Saco board
with candidates of stronger local political
claims.
| In the Senate the course of events dur
! ing the tariff debate has brought on a
condition of things little anticipated when
it began. At the beginning the Republi-
cans were more or less split up among
themselves by factional differences, and
the Democrats thought that there would
be merry time when they began to
bicker over the schedules This Is what
happened to the Democrats during the
discussion of the Wilson bill, and it was
thought to be the normal condition of a
party trying to put tariff bill through
the Senate. 1t must be confessed that
there seemed to be some reasons for ex-
pecting just the thing which the Demo-
Gratis were expecting. But as usual when
the Republicans try to do things as a
party, common sense and unity have pre-
vailed What ever contests there have
been have been fought out in caucus, and
| when the party has appeared on the floor
of the Senate it has been united and effec-
| tive But the Democrats have opened a
big abyss between the two wings of their
organization. Whoever heard the speech
Of Roger Q. Mills on Wednesday could
have no doubt that there has arisen in
the camp of his party a new force, that
do not propose to be bound down to free
trade ideas of the past. Mr.. Mills de-
claimed in his most violent manner for a
long time to prove that the Democratic
party is and has been for many years a
| NJ ,,tv fn1araf,ip cr tariff op1v for