Vol. VIII. No. 96. 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL 
[December, 1902.] 335 
Birkenhead — the Itchen, Foyle , Arutt, and Blackwater — with 
Laird-Norinand boilers. Three boats building at the yard of 
Messrs. Hawthorne, Leslie, and Co., Newcastle — the Derwent , 
Eden , and Waveney — with modified Yarrow boilers. Two 
boats building at the yard of Messrs. Thornycroft, Chiswick— 
the Kennet and Jed — with Thornycroft boilers. One boat 
building at the yard of the Parsons Steam Turbine Company — 
the Velox — with modified Yarrow boilers. Nine torpedo-boats 
are in course of construction, and of these five, building at the 
yard of Messrs. Thornycroft at Chiswick, will be fitted with 
Thornycroft boilers ; four building at the yard of Messrs White, 
of Cowes, will be fitted with White-Forster boilers. Two third- 
class cruisers are in hand; one, the Amethyst , building at 
Elswick, is to have her machinery fitted by the Parsons Turbine 
Company, and with modified Yarrow boilers ; the other, the 
Topaze, is building at Birkenhead, and will be fitted with boilers 
of the Laird-Normand type. 
France. — The Patrie states that the French Mediterranean 
squadron in reserve, consisting of the battleships Brennus, 
Massina , Carnot, Hoche , Charles Martel, and Lahire left 
Toulon in order to practise evolutions, gun and musketry 
fire, and discharge of torpedoes, returning at the end of the 
following week. The crews have been completed from those 
belonging to the active squadron. The same journal states 
that the French Minister of Marine has given instructions to 
the Forges et Chantiers de la Mdditerrande at Toulon to cease 
work on the building of the new battleship Justice and also to 
warn the manufacturers not to give further orders in connection 
with the supply of material. Instructions have also been received 
at the Loire to cease all preparations tor the building of the 
battleships Liberie 1 , Veriti, and Ddmocratie. 
Germany. — Ueberall states that a new division of German 
deep-sea torpedo-boats building by Schichau at Elbing is so far 
advanced that the first boat will be shortly commissioned. The 
new boats will be numbered S114 to S119, Yet another division 
is to be put in hand next year, the building and cost of which 
will extend into 1904. 
Russia. — The Ministry of Marine is about to lay down in 
the shipbuilding yard on the Galley Island in St. Petersburg the 
keel of an armoured cruiser which is to be much greater than 
any cruiser now in the Russian navy ; the displacement will be 
16,000 tons. So far Great Britain is the only power which 
possesses vessels of this immense size. The new cruiser is to be 
quite ready for sea in three years. A striking feature of its con- 
struction w'ill be that while the vessel is on the stocks the 
material and component parts necessary for building a second 
cruiser on exactly the same lines will be prepared, so that when 
the first cruiser is launched the second cruiser can be taken in 
hand at once. This system of building vessels of a similar type 
shortens considerably the time otherwise occupied in the con- 
struction of the second vessel, and it has been tried already with 
success in the Baltic shipbuilding yard on the Neva. 
The France Militaire states that the official trials of tire 
Russian armoured cruiser Bayan took place at Toulon on 
October 28. In accordance with the contract the speed attained 
was 21 knots, the engines developing 17,400 horse-power and 
making 577 revolutions per minute. The trials were considered 
satisfactory. 
United States. — The Naval Board of Construction, after 
long discussion, has adopted the general features to be embodied 
in two armoured cruisers authorised by Congress two years ago. 
There was a division of opinion between the advocates of speed 
and armament. Rear-Admiral Bowles, chief constructor, Rear- 
Admiral O'Neil, chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, and Captain 
Sigsbee, chief intelligence officer, were in favour of very heavy 
armament and armour which, upon the authorised displacement 
of 14,500 tons, would allow a narrow margin of horse-power to 
obtain a speed of 22 knots, while Rear-Admiral Melville, 
engineer-in-chief, and Rear-Admiral Bradford, chief of the Bureau 
of Equipment, were in favour of higher speed and lighter armour 
and armament, When a vote was taken, Admiral Bradford 
joined the majority of his colleagues, whose wishes are to be 
carried out in the designs. There will be great weight and 
thickness in the armoured deck (4^ in.) and bulkheads as com- 
pared with previous cruisers, and the side-armour (6 in.), will 
enable them to “lie in a line" with battleships. Indeed, Rear- 
Admiral Melville says : “ They are not armoured cruisers, but 
battleships, and they will not be the vessels Congress intended 
to' be constructed." Upon this subject he has presented a report, 
expressing the view that 22 knots is not adequate for modern 
cruisers. 
MILITARY. 
The Crown Prince of Siam has joined the School of 
Military Engineering, Chatham, for a course of instruction. 
Major-General H. C. O. Plumer, C.B., is to retain com- 
mand of a Brigade of the 1st Army Corps on promotion. 
Surgeon-General A. S. Reid bas been awarded the good 
service pension vacant by the death of Surgeon-General 
R. Harvey, C.B., Indian Medical Service. 
Colonel E. T. Dickson has arrived at Barbados and has 
taken over command of the troops in the West Indies, with the 
rank and status of Colonel on the Staff. 
The Duke of Connaught has selected Lieut. -Colonel 
Congreve, V.C., Rifle Brigade, for Assistant Military Secretary 
and Aide-de-Camp on his Staff of the 3rd Army Corps. 
Major H. C. Lowther, D.S.O. , 1st Scots Guards, who has 
the medal with six clasps for South African service, has been 
appointed a Brigade Major in the 1st .Army Corps. 
Lieut-General Sir George Luck, having left India for 
England, Major-General D. J. S. McLeod, C.B., has assumed 
command of the Bengal Army, with the temporary rank of 
Lieut-General. 
Major-General Sir Reginald Hart, V.C., R.E., on relief in 
the Quetta command by Major-General Sir Alfred Gaselee, will 
revert to the rank of Colonel, and is under orders to proceed to 
England to await re-employment. 
Lieut. -Colonel Sir John Jervis-White-Jervis has been 
appointed to the command of the 47th Brigade Division, 
R.F.A., at Colchester, on promotion from Z Battery R.H.A.,in 
Ireland. 
Colonel C. H. Collette, half-pay, lately commanding the 
1st Battalion Shropshire Light Infantry, has taken over from 
November 1 the command of the 53rd Regimental District at 
Shrewsbury, vice Colonel F. W. Robinson, whose five years 
have expired. * 
Lieut. -Colonel C. B. Vyvyan has vacated his staff appoint- 
ment as Assistant Adjutant-General in South Africa and pro- 
ceeded to India, by orders from home, to take over command of 
the 1st Battalion East Kent Regiment, to which he was lately 
appointed, vice Lieut. -Colonel B. F. Holme, deceased. 
Colonel J. Grove White, on vacating command of the 1st 
Battalion Middlesex Regiment in India, has been selected for 
employment on the Staff, and joins the 1st Army Corps at 
Aldershot as A.Q.M.G. of the 2nd Division, under Major- 
General C. W. H. Douglas. 
Lieut. -Colonel H. A. Walsh, on the completion of his term 
of command of the 1st Battalion Somersetshire L.I. in India, is 
about to be gazetted to the command of the 20th Regimental 
District at Bury, vacant by the retirement of Colonel R. Bruxner- 
Randall. 
A - / y-iqt. ^ 
The appointment of Accountant-General at Indian Army 
headquarters has become vacant by the retirement of Colonel 
J, A. Miley, C.S. I., Indian Stall Corps, who has held the 
position since November, 1893. Col. Miley was placed on the 
unemployed supernumerary list on the 30th ult. 
Brevet Lieut-Colonel H. F. M. Wilson, second in command 
of the 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade, in South Africa, has been 
selected for the command of the 2nd Battalion, in Egypt, vice 
Colonel C, T. E. Metcalfe, who has taken over command of 
the troops in Mauritius. 
The 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, after more than 
20 years’ foreign service, has left India for England, having 
been relieved by its 1st Battalion from South Africa. Sir 
Edward Wheler, who has been second in command of the 
2nd Battalion since October, 1898, has now taken over command 
of the 1st Battalion. 
Brigadier-General H. P. Leach, C.B. R.E., who has been 
at home on leave, has left for India, and on arrival at Bombay 
will proceed to Calcutta, where he will relieve Brigadier- 
General C. R. Townley, who has been officiating in command 
of the Residency District. General Townley will then return 
home. 
Major W. C. Neville having been ordered to rejoin his 
battalion, the 2nd Cheshire, on its return from active service 
in South Africa, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel J. G. Wolrige-Gordon, 
1st Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, has been 
selected to succeed him in command of the 5th Provisional 
Battalion at Devonport. 
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel H. de B, de Lisle, C. B., D.S.O. , 5th 
Dragoon Guards, has been appointed to succeed Lieut.-Colonel 
F. J. P. Butler, Reserve of Officers, in command of the 2nd 
Provisional Regiment of Hussars at Hounslow, and Major A. 
Hughes-Onslow, 10th Hussars, is to take command of the 4th 
Provisional Regiment of Dragoons at Aldershot, in place of 
Lieut.-Colonel W. C. Midieton, Scots Greys, who is to rejoin 
the latter. 
A couple of new Vickers-Maxim jointed one-pounder 
automatic quick-firing guns, with pack transport, have been 
ordered by the Government of India, and will be submitted 
this cold season to an exhaustive trial in hill operations, with a 
view to their immediate adoption, provided they fulfil the 
conditions of service and possess the merit claimed for them. 
It was hoped that the guns would be ready for use during the 
Delhi manoeuvres, but this was impossible, so they will be 
experimented with independently. 
The France Militaire states that the French army Budget 
for 1903 allows £25,862,500 for the home army, against 
^25,537,602 in 1902 ; £1, 135,000 for the colonial army, against 
$,1, 116,233 in 1902 ; and£i, 442, 500 for extraordinary expenses, 
against £1, 965,459 in 1902 ; the increase in the allowance for 
the home and colonial armies being more than counter- 
balanced by the decrease in the extraordinary expenses. The 
total army Budget for 1903 amounts to £28,440,000, against 
£28,619,294 in 1902. 
An officer in the Danish Army has invented a machine-gun 
which is not much larger or heavier than an ordinary rifle. It 
presents the acme of portability, so that — especially in close or 
mountainous country — it offers great advantages over the 
machine gun proper, with its wheels and teams of horses, mules, 
or men. The gun can be used as an ordinary rifle where there 
is a rest for it, and a small folding support can also be made 
use of. If mounted, the soldier is easily able to carry the gun, 
tripod, and a thousand rounds of ammunition. The possibilities 
open to a mounted infantry corps with a third or quarter of 
its number carrying these machine rifles and the remainder 
carrying ammunition are infinite. For defensive purposes the 
new invention has much to recommend it. The new weapon 
weighs only about thirteen pounds, and can be fired at the 
rate of 300 rounds a minute, or at a slower speed if requisite. 
The trials with the new weapon are stated to have been most 
successful, and it has now been formally adopted by the Danish 
army. 
+ 
METRICAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
Tables for Converting Metrical Weights and 
Measures. 
Hec- 
tare. 
Acre. 
Kilo- 
metre, 
Eng. 
Mile. 
Square 
Kilo- 
metre. 
Eng. 
Mile 
0-405 
1 
2 * 47 I 
1*609 
1 
0*621 
2*592 
1 
0*386 
0*809 
2 
4*942 
3’ 2I 9 
2 
1*243 
5*184 
2 
0*772 
1*214 
3 
7 ' 4 I 3 
4*828 
3 
1*864 
7*776 
3 
1*158 
i'6i9 
4 
9*885 
6*438 
4 
2*486 
10*368 
4 
1*544 
2*023 
5 
12*356 
8*047 
5 
3 *i °7 
12*960 
5 
1*930 
2*428 
6 
14*827 
9*656 
6 
3 * 7=8 
15*552 
6 
2*316 
2*833 
7 
17*298 
1 1 *2 65 
7 
4*350 
18*144 
7 
2*702 
3' 2 37 
8 
19*769 
12*879 
8 
4*971 
20*736 
8 
3*088 
3*642 
9 
22'240 
14*484 
9 
5*592 
23*328 
9 
3*474 
4*047 
10 
24*711 
16*093 
10 
6*214 
25'920 
10 
3*860 
8*093 
20 
49 * 4 2 3 
32*l86 
20 
12*428 
51*840 
20 
7*720 
I 2 ’I 4 Q 
30 
74*134 
48*279 
30 
18*641 
77*760 
30 
11*580 
16*187 
40 
98*846 
64*373 
40 
24*855 
103*680 
40 
15.440 
20*234 
50 
123*557 
80*466 
50 
31*069 
129*600 
50 
19*300 
24*286 
60 
148*268 
96*559 
60 
37*283 
155 520 
60 
23*160 
28*327 
70 
172*980 
112*652 
70 
43*497 
181*440 
70 
27*020 
32*373 
80 
107*692 
128*746 
80 
49*710 
207*360 
80 
30*880 
36*420 
90 
222 *Q 03 
144*839 
90 
55*924 
233*280 
90 
34*740 
40*467 
100 
247*114 
l6o*932 
100 
62*138 
259*200 
100 
38*601 
MM RE 
Yard. 
Kilo- 
gramme. 
Lb. 
Avoir. 
Litre. 
Gal- 
lons. 
0*914 
1 
1*094 
o *454 
1 
2 ’20 
4*54 
1 
0’22 
1*829 
2 
2*187 
0’907 
2, 
4*41 
9*09 
2 
0*44 
2 *743 
3 
3*281 
1*361 
3 
6*6i 
13*63 
3 
0*66 
3 * 65 8 
4 
4*374 
1*814 
4 
8*82 
18*17 
4 
o*88 
4 * 57 2 
5 
5*468 
2*268 
5 
1 1 ‘02 
22'72 
5 
I*IO 
5*486 
6 
6*562 
2*722 
6 
13*23 
27*26 
6 
1*32 
6*401 
7 
7*655 
3*175 
7 
i 5*43 
31*80 
7 
1*54 
7*315 
8 
8*749 
3*629 
8 
17*64 
36'35 
8 
1*76 
8*229 
9 
9*843 
4*082 
9 
19*84 
40*89 
9 
1*98 
9*144 
10 
10*936 
4*536 
10 
22*05 
45*43 
10 
2 ‘20 
18*288 
20 
21*873 
9*072 
20 
44*09 
90*87 
20 
4 * 4 ° 
2 7 ’ 43 2 
30 
12*8oq 
13*608 
30 
66*14 
136*30 
30 
6*6o 
36*576 
40 
43*745 
18*144 
40 
88-iS 
181*74 
40 
8*So 
45*719 
50 
54*682 
22 *679 
50 
110*23 
227*17 
50 
1 1 *00 
54 '863 
60 
65*618 
27*215 
60 
132*28 
272*61 
60 
13*20 
64*007 
70 
76*554 
3 i* 75 2 
70 
154*32 
318*04 
70 
15*40 
73 * I 5 I 
80 
87*491 
36*288 
SO 
176*37 
363 4 => 
10 
17*60 
82*295 
90 
08*427 
40*823 
90 
198*42 
408 91 
90 
19*80 
Oi '438 
100 
109*363 
45*359 
100 
220*46 
454*35 
100 
22*01 
For the use of these tables the following explanation is 
necessary: — The figures in heavier type represent either of the 
columns beside it, as the case may be; viz., with hectares and 
acres in the first set of columns, / acre—o'^oy hectare , and vice 
versd, J hectare =2 -471 acres, and so on. 
STATISTICAL NOTES. 
United Kingdom. — Trade for the first Ten Months 
of 1902. — The following table shows the value of the Imports 
from foreign countries and British possessions for the ten months 
ended the 31st October last, as compared with the corresponding 
periods of the two previous years : — 
I. Imports from Foreign Countries and British 
Possessions, 
Ten Months ended 31st October. 
I9OO. 
3901 . 
xgo2. 
I. Animals, living (for 
£ 
£ 
£ 
food) 
8,148,589 
8,016,797 
6,884,268 
II. (a) Articles of food 
and drink, duty free 
76.653.793 
81,094,901 
83,940,743 
( 5 ) Articles of food 
and drink, dutiable 
91,680,541 
92,580,785 
90 , 73 I >483 
Tobacco, dutiable . 
3,932,996 
3,842,060 
4,865,928 
III. Metals 
27,232,657 
25,602,862 
25,466,982 
IV. Chemicals, dyestuffs, 
and tanning sub- 
5 T 99,946 
stances . 
4,749,980 
5 . 237,951 
V. Oils .... 
9 . o8 7 . 327 
9,145,438 
9 , 73 8 .94 7 
VI. Raw materials for 
textile manufactures 
57,802,979 
59,668,493 
59 - 179,3 57 
VII. Raw materials for 
sundry industries 
and manufactures . 
5s.813.297 
49,492,714 
49,768,416 
VIII. Manufactured articles 
IX. (a) Miscellaneous ar- 
78,153,604 
79,059.423 
83,183,270 
tides 
13.439.660 
13,928,856 
15,612,342 
( b ) Parcel post . 
9 SL 3 63 
1,075,692 
i, 137,66s 
Total value , 
427,646,786 
428,745,972 
435 . 709 , 35 ° 
Note. — S ugar and other cognate articles became liable to duties on 
the 19th April, 1901, and together with corn, grain, flour, etc., which 
became subject to duty on the 15th April, 1902, are included in Sec- 
tion II. (b.) 
The value of the Exports of home produce and of foreign 
and colonial produce during the first ten months of 1902, as 
compared with like periods of 1901 and 1900, is as shown in the 
subjoined table : — 
IL Exports of British Produce. 
I. Animals, living . 
£ 
766,709 
£ 
601,104 
£ 
636,782 
II. Articles of food and 
drink 
10,953,025 
12,063,100 
13,180,855 
III. Raw materials . 
34,697,850 
28,317,700 
25,564,447 
IV. Articles manufactured 
and partly manufac- 
tured, viz. : — 
(a) Yarns and textile 
fabrics 
85,464,750 
86,280,447 
86,147,051 
(b) Metals and articles 
manufactured there- 
from (except ma- 
chinery and ships) . 
38,675,604 
33.051.635 
35,376,785 
[c) Machinery and mill- 
work 
16,340,739 
15,019,429 
15,506,681 
(d) Ships new (not regis- 
tered as British) 
7,159,24s 
6,983.737 
5,322,086 
[e) Apparel and articles 
of personal use 
8.571,372 
8.983,723 
9,768.237 
(/) Chemicals and 
chemical and medici- 
nal preparations 
7,843,006 
7,502,504 
8,088,370 
(g) All other articles, 
either manufactured 
or partly manufac- 
tured 
30-379.796 
31,468,988 
32,262,752 
(It) Parcel post . 
2,362,586 
2,854,309 
2,809,456 
Total values . 
243.214.685 
233,126,676 
234,663,502 
III. Exports of Foreign and Colonial Produce. 
£ 
£ 
£ r 
Total value 
• 
• 
53,029,427 
56, 854,9951 
55,007,026 
-*■ 
New South Wales Gold Yield.— The gold yield of New 
South Wales during the month of October was 22,985 oz., 
valued at .£82,845, 35 compared with 15,780 oz., valued at 
£54,763 during the corresponding month of last year. The 
yield for the past ten months of the current year was 241,782 oz., 
valued at £864,569, as compared with 218,387 oz., valued at 
£756,040, during the corresponding months of last year. _ 
Auto-Locomotives. — -The North-Eastern Railway Company 
have just placed an order for a number of large four-cylinder 
petrol engines, each to be capable of developing no less than 
100 horse-power. These engines will be used for the propulsion 
of light and frequent trains on branch lines, where the compe- 
tition of the electric tramway traffic is most keenly felt, the 
engines being of the autocar type, with trailers. The order for 
these petrol engines should not be confused with the experi- 
ments now being conducted by the North-Eastern Railway with 
oil as a substitute for coal on the ordinary locomotives of their 
express trains. 
Peat as Fuel. — There is, according to Engineering, a 
great future for peat as fuel. The most productive area for it 
is the north of Germany and the adjoining parts of Denmark 
and Holland. In Friesland there are bogs 1,500 square miles 
in extent, and Germany has more fuel in peat than in coal. 
A square mile of bog 10 feet deep contains peat equal in heat- 
ing power to over 300,000 tons of coal. Ireland has a million 
acres of large bogs from 10 feet to 30 feet deep. In Sweden, 
where peat is more largely used than in other countries, a 
Crown peat engineer has been appointed. In Finland, Russia, 
and Germany locomotive boilers are fired with it. It is now 
proposed to use peat fuel for electric power stations in 
Germany. It has been manufactured for fuel for many years, 
and much ingenuity has been displayed in devising machines 
for preparing it. 
