§ MR. W. H. SMITHasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, If he had received any information with respect to a reported accident on board Her Majesty's ship Daring by the bursting of a gun, causing the loss of two or three lives?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI am sorry to say it is true that an accident occurred on the 23rd of February at Yokohama, on board Her Majesty's ship Daring. During target practice a 64-pounder gun, with the full charge of 10 1bs. of powder, broke up into two pieces, the whole of the roar part from the vent being blown overboard, through the opposite port, killing two men, and slightly injuring three others, who, by the latest accounts, were doing well. The gun is a muzzle-loader of an early pattern of Woolwich manufacture, with a wrought-iron tube. A full inquiry will be made by competent authorities into the cause of this accident; and, in the meantime, orders have been given that all guns of the same pattern shall be used, if at all, with a reduced charge. Guns of this calibre at present manufactured have an improved tube of steel instead of wrought-iron.
§ MR. CARBUTTWas not the gun made of cast-iron; and are we to understand that new guns are to be made of cast-iron lined with steel?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANIt was not a cast-iron gun.