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Southland Times, Volume VII, Issue 538, 10 August 1866, Page 3

A New Rifle .foe. the Bbitish Army.— The description which the Times gives of the superiority of the Prussia needle gun (Zundnadel gewehr) over the small-arms now in use in other armies is calculated to excite uncomfortable reflections here as well as elsewhere. The chances of our corning into contact with the possessors of this formidable weapon are, indeed, remote enough, but still it is far from satisfactory to think that, ■ after all the money we have spent, aud the experiments we have made, our army is not yet provided with a breach-loading musket. It is, however, some consolation to know, as we announced last month that the Grovernment have at last obtained a muzzle-loader which has been pronounced by competent authorities even better than the needle-gun, and which will shortly be introduced as the regulation small-arm of pur troops. It is a conversed Enfield on the Snider system, with improved ammunition devised by the Woolwich Laboratory. This rifle possesses the advantages of being simple, safe, cheap, non-capping, and little liable to get out of order. Moreover, it does not require such a reduction of the stock as to destroy the efficiency of a weapon, which, for military purposes, is required to act as a pike as well as a firearm. It may "be worth while, perhaps, to repeat our general description of the arrangements : — A portion of the upper side of the b each end of the barrel is cut out for tne admission of the cartridge. This vacant space is closed after loading by a lump of steel — the "breech-stopper" or "breech-piece" — which hinges upon one side of the barrel, and forms a false breech, against the face of which the back end of the cartridge rests ; the barrel is, in fact, shortened to this extent. A plunger or piston transmits the blow of the hammer through the stopper to the cap of the cartridge, which is withdrawn after firing by a little instrument which forms part of the stopper. The cartridge is on the " central fire" system, the chief novelties being the case and bullet. As regards ihe former, the object has been to provide a case which shall uncoil or unwind to a certain extent on discharge. The bullet is a combina tion of various constructions, none of" them original, but producing together a projectile of a sufficiently distinctive character, It has the general form and

appearance of the Enfield rifle bullet', with its hollow base and baked clay plug; it has the cannelures, which originally characterised the Tamisier and the Minie bullets, and the wood plug in the head to which Mr Metford and Mr Whitworth may both lay some claim. The cartridge is perfectly impervious of moisture ; it is safe, not liable to lead or foul ; it admits of about 14 rounds being fired in a minute ; and it shoots from 20 to 25 per cent, better than the service Enfield ammunition. — Pall-mall Gazette.

National Rifle Association. — The Duke of Cambridge, who presided at a general meeting of this association on the 26th of May, stated that the annual assembling of the Volunteers at Wimbledon, which he had to announce would be held on the 9th of. July. The prizes which would then be given by the Association, would amount to £4020, whereas in 1865, the prizes amounted only to £3595, thus showing a considerable advance in the amount this year. The total number of prizes this year was 685, while last year the number was only 580, making an increase of 105 prL-es. There would be a number of breach-loaders at hand from which anybody might make a selection, and he hoped that some decision might be come to in regard to the difficulties con nected with the question of breachloading. Nothing positive had yet been determined on that subject. Mr Schneider had gone through the whole of the system, aud according to him nothing was more simple than the mode of conversion of the Enfield rifle into a breach-loader. If, therefore, his mode of conversion could be adopted, the difficulty of changing a muzzle-loader to a breach-loader would be at once solved, dis Royal Highness did not mean to assert that Mr Schneider's was the best plan that could be invented ; but as far as the system of conversion went, he certainly approved it, and waß of opinion that it would be a foolish thing on the part of the Grovernment not to carry out that plan before they - should enter upon any new principle.

Women never stood higher than they do now. — Look at their heels.

A good chorus for a man who has to sleep in the fields : — " Too-rural ! Toorural ! Too-rural ! Too-rural-I-lay,"

A lady asked a minister whether a person might not be fond of dress and ornament without being vain. — " Madam," said th-a minister, " when you see a fox's tail peeping out of the hole, you may fee sure the fox is within."