Arizona republican., 1897-11-26
ARMY AND NAVY NEWS.

ARM AND NAVY NEWS,
 Progress on the New Gunboats.- Secretary Lorg has finally accepted the gunboats Nashville, built at New port News, Va, and the Newport, built at Bath, Me. The Newport will take the Nicaragua canal commission to San Juan del Norte about Decem- Der 1, while the Nashville requires a months repairs at the Norfolk navy yard. The Helena and the Marietta will have their final trials off San Francisco next week. The Princeton alone of all the gunboats seems to be unreasonably delayed, having never yet left the yard of Dialogue in Cam den, N. J., where she was launched. In spite of severe penalties for her non-delivery, no date has yet besn fixed definitely for h:r completion, although efforts are being made to give her a preliminary contractors run early next month. Naval officers declare that she will be In dangar of injury from the ice if she remains in the Delaware much longer, and dread a repetition of the accident to the cruiser Brooklyn last winter
 Abandonment of New Coast De-
 
 fort in the army, particularly in coast defence work, which is ascribed to congressional short sightedness, though some one else appears to be culpable in at least a contributary degree, is shown in Secretary Alger's action Gevoking the orders to a battery of the Fourth artillery to garrison Fort Delaware and Finn's Point, N. J., ard postponing the oc- cupafion of those important places guarding the entrance to the Della ware until next spring. This is due to an official report that the old quarters there are absolutely unin- habitable, and therefore sevsral hun dred thousand dollars worth of guns and their mounts are left without the care they would have were trocps available in the vicinity ,and the men will not have the advantage of be- coming familiar with the weapons. not to mention the defenceless posi- ton in which Philadelphia is left. Of course, congress will be asked to ap- propriate money for quarters, ard this demand is emphasized by the failure Of the department to man the posts, but many persons will wonder that the proper officials never thought of this phase of the matter several months ago.
 Loss of Money Under Army Pay System instance of the short comings of the present method of the pay system in the army, which is given as an argument for the trial 1 of the payment in person. system is shown in a recent occurrence in Texas now under investigation. Maicr Bullis, the paymaster stationed at San Antonio, sent the money by ex- | press to pay the troops at Fort Brown, Texas. The package arrived | and the commanding officer detailed an officer to get it and bring it to the fort. This was done, but no veri- l fication was made, and when 1t came to paying cut the mocey it was found that the package for the hospf al corps was missing. The express com pany was absolved from resronsibil- ity, and board of inquiry which in- vestigated the matter failed to fix the cause of loss. Now an official fnspec- t1on from headquarters will be made into the business, with little or no prospect of developing any real infor- nation, except that such occurre~ ces are apt to happen, but could be cer- tainly obviated if troops were paid in person.
 Gratifying Gun Tests-Gen. Flag 1 Ter, chief of the bureau of ordnance of the army, is highly gTatifed at the | results of recent tests made at Sandy Hook One of them was of the dis appearing twelve-inch gun, to see how l rapidly it could be fred Ten rou ds were fired in sixteen minutes and fifty seven seconds, under conditions as unfavcrable as possible. The wind was blowing directly in the faces of 1 the men, and a heavy rain was fall | ing. Every time the breech of the gun was opened the smoke from 475 pounds of powder blew directly l in the faces of the men who were at work. General Flagler was also highly gratified with the test of the new rapid fire five-inch gun made at the Water kat. arsenal With 34,ooo pounds p E. a velocity of 2eOO feet feet .,, was wal s s!lned, the proie2tile |