water will not compress, something must give way, and the weaker parts of course will go first. Hardly thought it possible that fire could take place without great negligence, because the furnaces were completely surrounded with five inches of water round every part, and it was only in raking out the fire, and neglecting to water it, that any accident could take place; it was raked out upon an iron floor. No rolling of the vessel could throw the fire about, she must be pitching to a great degree if that was to take place. The coals are carried in boxes in front of the boilers, so as to be right and left for the fireman. Hardly conceived on board these vessels, where condensing engines were used, that it was possible that a boiler could burst; they were generally provided with two safety-valves, and the steam used was about from two and a half to three pounds pressure upon a square inch, at which pressure it blew off by the safety-valve of its own accord.-Boulton and Watt had made their safety-valves for many years in the way they now are, inaccessible for any person to load them by putting additional weight upon them; had seen the Scotch engine men, in starting their engines, place their feet upon the safety-valve. Supposing that the safety-valves should get choked, the steam would come off at the feed pipes; it would not give way under any circumstance, not even though the valves were choked, the pressure was so extremely small: the boilers were calculated to sustain 50 times the pressure required of them.—If any part of the boiler, by length of use, became very thin, and gave way, it would merely rend, if malleable iron. The accidents that happened from boilers, sometime ago, arose from their being made on the high-pressure principle, and being made of cast iron. The Meteor consumed about seven bushels of coals per hour, rather under; she was then working above her full speed; the Sovereign was

from nine and a quarter to nine and a half; the Meteor had two thirty-horse engines, and the Sovereign two fortyhorse engines; the latter, when using that quantity of coal, was going about nine miles and three-quarters per hour. A bushel of good Newcastle coal was reckoned equal to one hundred weight of Scotch coal; so that it came to very nearly the same thing; the Scotch coal generally burnt very free, and so did the Staffordshire, but the bushel of Newcastle coal was equal to a hundred weight of either. The standard bushel of Newcastle coals should weigh eighty-eight pounds; the best Wall's End, eighty; and the Wylam, seventy-seven. Had found, that by actual weight, the specific gravity of the Wylam coal was much under that of the Wall's End; the latter was not good for working engines. The best coal for steam engines was the Halbeath or Inverkeithing, from a place in Fife called Inverkeithing; its peculiar value lay in burning free, and becoming a complete white ash, without caking upon the fire bars; the sulphur in coals would destroy the fire bars in a short time. Had found inconvenience from salt forming in the boilers; when the manhole cover was taken off, and they were exposed to the atmosphere, the water then became crystallized, which rendered them very difficult to clean; this had been avoided by constructing pumps or cocks to let the water through the side of the ship without the man-hole being opened. The salt water oxidates iron very rapidly indeed, if it be allowed to lie upon it. On board a steam vessel a boiler constantly in use would last from four to five years with care; it was the only part of the machinery subject to decay. These engines, upon the whole, require a considerable degree of care and superintendence, and skilful engineers; more care than the land engines: every engine requires great care.

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The

CAPTAIN JOHN PERCY, called in, and examined. Commanded the Hero steam packet, from London to Margate; and the Victory, belonging to the same company; commanded the Victory for three years; the Hero was built last year. The Hero has two engines of fifty-horse power, made by Murray and Fenton, of Leeds, and carries 427 tons. The Hero consumes pretty well three quarters of a chaldron, or twenty-seven bushels of coals, London measure, per hour; in general, they make away with six chaldrons in the passage, that was owing to the want of flues; had not flues enough; had four furnaces. distance from London to Margate was about eighty-four miles: generally made the passage in about seven hours and a half, that was the average passage; one passage was made in six hours and sixteen minutes, with the wind and tide. The paddles were eight feet in the centre. Had been trying an experiment with twelves paddles on a wheel, and it answered very well; last summer worked with sixteen paddles, three feet and a half between each⚫ The paddle of the Victory was five feet and a half, in one place; the Hero worked more with the paddles being further apart, and they were lowered a little. They take hold of the water about seventeen or eighteen inches, and the engine makes thirty strokes per minute. She once did up to thirty-one, but twenty-nine and thirty is about the average. The passage from London to Margate required, on an average, about seven hours and a half, and they went at the rate of between eleven and twelve miles per hour.

REPORT.

THE Select Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the roads from London to Holyhead, and from Chester to Holy

head; into the regulations for conveying his Majesty's Mail between London and Dublin, and between the Northern Parts of England and Dublin, and between Dublin and the interior of Ireland; and into the state of the Mail Coach Roads, in Ireland; and to report their observations thereupon; together with the MINUTES of the EVIDENCE taken before them, from time to time, to the House; have, pursuant to the order of the House, further examined the Matters to them referred, and have agreed to the following REPORT:

YOUR Committee have proceeded, in compliance with that part of the instructions of the House, which relates to the conveyance of his Majesty's Mails between Holyhead and Howth, to examine into the circumstances attending the establishing of Steam Packets at Holyhead, in the course of last year. For this purpose two vessels, called the Royal Sovereign and Meteor, were built, by order of the Postmasters General, in the River Thames, on a plan to give to them the greatest possible strength, and the advantage of the most improved engines. The evidence which has been given to your Committee by a Commander of one of them, Captain Rogers, leaves no doubt of the practicability of performing the Post-office service at Holyhead, by Steam Vessels, with as great safety as it can be performed by Sailing Vessels, even in the most tempestuous weather; and at the same time by voyages, on an average not exceeding one-half of the number of hours which formerly was the average of the voyages of the Sailing Packets. But your Committee are not as yet prepared to enter into all the details of this important subject; their object in presenting this Report to the House, is merely to convey to the House an opinion they have come to, in consequence of the evidence of Mr. George Henry Freeling, and of Captain Rogers, that the Postmasters General ought immediately to give orders for building a new Steam Packet, so that at least there should

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be three Packets on the Holyhead Station, before the commencement of the next winter, of that peculiar construction which has enabled the Sovereign and Meteor to go to sea throughout the whole of the last winter,

Your Committee strongly recommend the same general plan of construction should be adopted in building a new Packet, as that on which the Sovereign and Meteor were built; and also, that the engine should be made by Messrs. Boulton and Watt. They also recommend that the suggestions of Captain Rogers should be attended to in all matters respecting the building of a new Packet, as those suggestions will come from a person who appears to your Committee to possess great knowledge in seamanship and ship-building, and by the experience of commanding a steam vessel through a most tempestuous winter, to have made himself master of the best method of managing one at sea, and also of all the main properties of the mechanism of the engine,

Your Committee have annexed to this Report the evidence of Mr. George Henry Freeling, Captain Rogers, Mr. J. Brown, and Captain John Percy, and also certain Queries which they have sent to several persons who have had the most experience in constructing and navigating steam vessels. They intend to continue their inquiries upon this interesting subject, and hope to present to the House a full Report upon all its details before the close of the Session.

April 2, 1822.