The evening times., 1900-06-14
Toilet and jewelry reductions.
QUEER IDEAS OF eUNNERY.
Scenes Witnessed at Shanghai by
Lord Charles BereSford.
From the Engineering nmss)


Lord Charles Beresford. discussing the
openings in China for mechanical engi-
neeTs, gives an amusing description OF Chi-
nese forts and arsenals-
Il would like" be says, TO tell you one
or two stories thoroughly characteristic Of
the Chinese. At Shanghai in the superb
arsenal under the superintendent Of Mr..
Bunt and Mr.. Cornish, 10th British mechan-
ical engineers. ! saw an Armstrong gun
which had had the breech piece repaired in
a most clever manner. AS a matter Of fact,
it was really krupp gun, but with an
Armstrong breech mechanism. On asking
for explanations. was told that the origi-
nal breeCh piece had been blown out, and
on visiting a fort later on I found out how
and why. At this fort l congratulated the
mandarin or having the guns to1-ton)
mounted in proper positions, and ! was
afterWard shown the powder used ! then
said: You surely do not use tbs powder
in those guns? Oh. yes replied the man
DARN. we do. But il will blow the
breech-pieces out Yes, il does was the
reply. One gun on being fired blew the
breech of and killed fourteen men; and
then they tried the other gun and killed
twenty-four men
Later on l visited another battery,
where there were fye sixty-tOn guns OBJ
serving the arrangement of these. I asked
the mandarin where his front was The
mandarin pointed in one direction. but
the guns pointed in another. ! mentioned
this, and the mandarin nodded, and said
he thought there was some mistake
then pointed out that only one gun could
be fred safely in the desired direction.
oh. no. replied the mandarin, we shOHld
fire them all At my request the ex-
pertinent was then made, and on pointing
the guns around as desired they became
en- echelon. so that the wave of cOncus-
sion OF one gun would have destroyed the
detachment on duty at its neighbor.
Knowing this, / placed soldiers hats and
clothes about the guns, and on hring the
latter in succession these garments were
blown sky high. You see? 1 observed to
the mandarin. Yes replied the latter.
we should have had some men killed.
but the shot would have reached the
enemy, wouldn't itG
AT another place there was a siXty-ton
muZzle-loadng gun. at which the arrange
ments were such that the gun was actually
loaded in the magazine. badly sponged
gun or burning wad might, therefore, have
blown the whole UP. | pointed this out.
remarking that ! had never seen any
thing so dangerous. The mandarin smiled.
clapped me on the back and said: You
are the cleveresf man ! nave ever met
That is Just what happened last year We
did fire the gun and he magazine blew
men had been killed in this explosion,
but no alteration had been made in re-
constructing the battery
Later l went to powder mill and found
there excellent machines of German
make. l noticed. however, that there was
too much powder in the pan. and. further,
that the windows were all open and pro-
tected by gratings. Hence it was posi-
Bile for dust or grit to blow in, and, get
ting into the pan, it would be liable. by
the friction caused, to start an explosion.
/ pointed this out and the mandarin re-
piled: Yes, it blew up like that last
year; this is the new place We have
built since
''The Chinese were also delighted with
me at other arsenals having no European
superintendent when ! showed them how
to set their speed and feed gearing for
the tools.
I'm one place / found a man boring a
six-pounder gun, and the tool protesting
most vigorously against the ill-treat-
ment. l showed the man how to adjust
it, and got it going properly. The work
men gathered in a corner and talked ex-
citedly. / asked what they were saying,
and was told: They are saying that
England produces the most wonderful
mandarins in the world. We have many.
but not one OF them knows anything
about any Of the machinery in the shop .