§ COLONEL C. P. LESLIEsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is true that the Royal Sovereign, 522 cupola ship, is to be armed with smoothbore guns; and, if so, what reason there is, after the decided superiority of rifle guns has been recognized, that a smoothbore armament should have been decided upon?
§ MR. CHILDERS, in reply, said, the Royal Sovereign was at present armed with five twelve-ton 150-pounder guns of the smooth-bore, but as soon as the best system of rifling was decided upon she would be armed with 300-pounder rifled-bore guns. At present that system had not been finally decided upon, and until that time the guns in use would be exclusively of smooth-bore.