CALISHER AND TERRY'S BREECH LOADING RIFLE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 14, 13 February 1861, Page 4

CALISHER AND TERRY'S BREECH LOADING RIFLE.

[From the United Service Gazette.]

We are happy to perceive that the merits of this truly excellent rifle, so simple in construction and so efficient in the field, are every day obtaining more and more general recognition. The patentees have recently received large orders from the Governments of Sydney and New Zealand, and we also understand that, nearer home, Garibaldi, who, it may be presumed, is no bad judge of a rifle, has determined upon arming with Calisher and Terry's guns some of his famous " Red Shirts." An extensive government order for India is at this moment in course of execution, the result of the numerous testimonials which have been given by high military authorities as to the simplicity, efficiency, aud general excellence of the invention. We have received from a well-known and trusted correspondent the following letter, bearing testimony to the merits of Calisher and Terry's rifle : — [To the Editor of the United Service Gazette.'] Sir — In justice to Messrs. Calisher and Terry's breech-loader rifles, permit me to mention that such officers of the army and navy as have had the prudence to supply themselves with his breech-loader, previously to proceeding to China, write word in the most unequalled term of its merits. They have invariably found it, under all conditions of weather, usage, &c, a reliable weapon. They adduce numberless instances of the Eullolcl's proving utterly useless in the hour of peril. It is a matter of notoriety, they say, thai the gallant marines, who so hopelessly struggled knee deep in mud at the Peilio, were completefy disarmed, through their inability to load their wet ISjiiield. In e&lietr instances, tlic beat of the SUU baked up the foul matter in the clogged bveeches and nipples, pins were had recourse to, as many as eighteen and twenty caps successively used, and all to no purpose. But it is sickening to dwell on the demerits of this worthless weapon. Now that India, China, and more recently Now Zealand, where, by i the way, the pouv unreclaimed buvugeu exhibited luwv

wit than us in their method of loading, have testified to the dangerous unreliability, the, in short, utter worthlessness of the Enfiold ; and now that Messrs. Calisher and Terry have produced so perfect, formidable a weapon, 1 trust, in the name of common sense, and in the interests of our noble array, that we shall have no further issue of those wretched niuz/,le-load-ing abominations ; but that the new invention will be supplied to them as expcditiou«ly as possible, and our infantry rendered invincible and capable of successfully copying with the modern field piece 3, by placing in their hands these awfully-destructive breech-loader weapons, honestly and truly the " best that skill can make and money purchase."

Faithfully yours, One of the Illustrious 13th.

England and her Defences. — At the recent Lord Mayor's banquet in London, Lord Palmerston replied to the toast in honour of her Majesty's Ministers. lie said "that in whatever direction we turn our eyes the general prospect was satisfactory, and instanced the state of our industry at home, the development of our commerce abroad, the success of our arms, where unhappily our arms have been compelled to act, our relations with foreign powers, and, lastly, the prospect of general peace. His lordship adverted with particular satisfaction to the cordial co-opera-tion of the allied commanders and forces in China. Englaud did not numerically rival the great armies which continental powers kept on foot during peace, but in bravery aud exploits our army would rival any force. We redress the inferiority in number of our standing army by our admirable militia, by our noble volunteers, which will henceforth constitute a permanent institution of the country [loud cheers], and by fortifying important and vulnerable points ; but above all, we must redress the balance by maintaining, as we always must maintain, a strong and powerful navy [continued cheering]." His lordship added, "I say this in the presence of the representatives of foreign and allied powers [cheers] ; I say it in a spirit of frankness, of cordiality, of friendship, of alliance, and of peace [cheers]. We wish from the bottom of our hearts to be at peace with all nations [cheers], to be bound by ties of friendship and alliance with those nations peculiarly whose interests are most congenial with our own ; we wish, I say, from the bottom of our hearts, to win aud to preserve their friendship and alliance : but we are determined by the manly dignity of our position to prove to them that we are worthy to retain and enjoy that friendship and alliance " [cheers] . — European Times.