GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



'I'll.' (irincipal objection to tin- service rifle in 



1liat it has (lie weak l>lt action that has been 



discarded by tin- (Jenmin ami other govern- 



. instead of locking willi a breech block 



ll'i-r- a -"lid resistance to the recoil. The, 



tiKH'd rille is said to -ln>c.| no faster than 

 ihr Martini, while it- r,,-i j^ twice as great and 

 i> more than that of the German, the Austrian, 

 or the I'Yeneh rille, ami it is also said that, un- 

 like the>e. it has a main sprint: and striker that 

 are very liiible to bo broken and certain to be- 

 eome fouled, because the soldier can not get at 

 them to elean them. Another object ion is t hat 

 no suitable ammunition lias yet been devised. 



Tin 1 Navy. There were 88 armored vessels 

 ami 17? umirmored steam vessels in commission 

 on Nov. 1, 1890, and in addition to these the 

 navy had 27 sailing vessels and 32 stationary 



.-. During the preceding twelve months 7 

 new first-class ironclads had gone into com- 

 inission, while 8 of the second class had been 

 laid off. The programme of construction ap- 

 proved by Parliament is to be carried out by 

 IV.M. when there will be 80 first-class battle 

 ships instead of 17, as at present, and the 15 of 

 the second class will be increased by 2; 11 new 

 protected cruisers, of 7,650 tons each, will be 

 built ; the 10 cruisers of the second class will be 

 increased to 51 ; and to the existing 18 of the 

 third class 6 will be added. The programme 

 includes also a torpedo ship of 6,620 tons, 2 new 

 sloop gunboats, 81 torpedo gunboats, of which 4 

 are now completed, 9 more unarmored gunboats, 

 of which there are now 62, and an addition of 6 

 to the 80 first-class, and of 10 to the 51 second- 

 class torpedo boats that the Government has at 

 present. The 7 vessels that are being built for 

 the Australian squadron do not form a part of 

 the ^cheme. There were in progress at the close 

 of 1890 5 first-class battle ships, 2 first-class, 8 

 second-class, and 6 third-class protected cruisers, 

 1 torpedo depot-ship, 7 torpedo gunboats, 2 

 sloops, and 9 first-class gunboats. Of the vessels 

 now on the effective list 29, will be removed as 

 obsolete before April, 1894. The naval estimates 

 for 1890-'91 provide for 43.449 officers and sea- 

 men, 6,244 boys, 13,882 marines, 4,200 men of 

 the coast guard, and 1,025 officers for various 

 services. There were 14 flag officers and 2,687 

 commissioned officers in active service. Provis- 

 ion was made also for 21,159 navy reserves, 2,- 

 510 pensioner reserves, and 2,000 artillery volun- 

 teers. 



The last of the vessels embraced in the old 

 programme, the first-class cruiser "Blenheim," 

 wa~ delivered by the builders before the end of 

 1 s '. 1 . Of the 17 second-class cruisers contracted 

 for, 8 had been launched before the beginning of 

 1891, the " Lntona." built at Portsmouth, had 

 been delivered, and all were expected to be com- 

 pleted before April, 1892; the 5 first-class cruis- 

 ers were expected to l>e launched within a year ; 

 8 of the 4 first-class battle ships were in an ad- 

 vanced stage; and the (i torpedo gun-vessels. 

 completing the ship-building allotted to private 

 builders wnder the Naval Defense act, had not 

 yet been contracted for. The 5 cruisers and 2 

 torpedo gunboats for the Australian flotilla were 

 then nearly completed. Of '>* ships to be built 

 in the royal dockyards, 4 first-class battle ships 

 were nearly ready to be launched, the 2 second- 



class nhips were begun, 1 flr-t-class cmixer had 

 been launched and 2 others were m-urly ready. 

 <d class cruisers had been launched, and'2 

 torpedo gunboats were nearly ready for MT\ ice. 

 Of the .VJO pins required for the 70 new ships, 

 Jin had been completed, but of these only 27 were 

 hea\y guns, of which 2 were the 164,-inch 30-cal- 

 iber 110-ton guns that have been condemned as 

 useless by naval experts, because the 67-ton 184- 

 inch gun can pierce the heaviest armor yet made 

 and because the great guns on the " f'.enbow " 

 and "Victoria" had proved unmanageable. The 

 " Royal Sovereign," begun in 1KH!) and launch* d 

 at Portsmouth on Feb. 26, 1891, is the largest 

 man-of-war ever built in England, having a 

 displacement of 14,150 tons a length of 880 feet 

 and 75 feet breadth of beam. The 7 barbette 

 ships of this class and the turret ship which will 

 complete the list of the first-class oattle ships 

 ordered under the Naval Defense act will all be 

 armed with 67-ton guns, four in number, dis- 

 tributed in pairs in two protected stations, and 

 all capable of being fired on each broadside. 

 The auxiliary armament is mounted on two 

 decks. The belt of 18-inch armor, 84. feet broad, 

 extends over two thirds the length of the ship, 

 and is completed by armored bulkheads, a steel 

 deck and protective under-water deck, and 18 

 inches of armor on the barbette. The disposit ion 

 of the armament is generally the same as in the 

 " Trafalgar " and the " Nile." There will be 10 

 6-inch quick-firing guns, 16 6-pounder, and 9 

 3-pounder quick-firers, 8 machine guns, and 2 

 field guns. The " Royal Sovereign " is designed 

 for a speed of 16 knots at natural draught and a 

 coal endurance of 5,000 miles. The " Royal 

 Arthur," launched from the Portsmouth dock- 

 yard in the same month as the ' Royal Sover- 

 eign," is one of the 9 first-class protected cruisers 

 of the improved " Mersey " type, measuring 360 

 feet in length and 60 feet 8 inches in beam, with 

 a displacement of 7,700 tons. She will be able 

 to steam 19 knots under forced draught and 184 

 knots with natural draught, and can carry coal 

 for a cruise of 10,000 knots at a speed of 10 

 knots. The steel turtle-back deck is 5 inches 

 thick in the most exposed parts, and the guns 

 are protected by 6-inch screens and casemates. 

 She will carry i 9-2-inch gun, 12 6-inch quick- 

 firing guns, 12 quick-firing 6-pounders, 5 3-nound- 

 ers, 6 machine guns, and 2 9-pounders, besides 

 4 torpedo tubes and a complement of 18 torpe- 

 does. The " Endvmion," of the same class, built 

 by contract at ifull, was launched on July 22. 

 She will be armed with 2 9-2-inch breech-loaders 

 and with nearly the same equipment of smaller 

 guns and the same torpedo apparatus as the 

 "Royal Arthur" ; and is designed for a speed of 

 20 knots when running at full power. The 

 naval manoeuvres of 1891 showed little besides 

 the efficacy of the system of mobilization and the 

 eflicicncy and vigilance of the officers and dis- 

 cipline and smartness of the crews. A vigorous 

 offensive as a means of frustrating torpedo at- 

 tacks was adjudged to have been entirely suc- 

 cessful. Another feature of the manoeuvres 

 was the successful test of the 110-ton guns 

 with which the "Sans Pareil" had been provided 

 after years of delay. 



Finances. For the year ending March 81. 

 1890, the total revenue of the Government was 



