The secretary of war transmitted to congress the following statement of the expenses of the national armories, and number of arms and appendages manufactured under government, during the fiscal year just closed, which we find in the Philadelphia Bulletin. EXPENDITURES. Springfield-For repairs and improvements, including lands, buildings, dams, &c. For materials, workmanship, salaries, &c. Harper's Ferry-For repairs, improvements, &c. $65,911 29 161,632 92 Total For materials, workmanship, &c. 183,264 56 Total 258,534 18 Total expenditures $486,078 38 ARMS AND APPENDAGES MANUFACTURED. Springfield-Muskets (percussion,) 15,817; rifles (percussion,) none; sapper's musketoons, 252; cavalry musketoons, 4; artillery musketoons, 701; ball screws, 1,994; wipers, 24,273; screw-drivers, 22,020; bullet moulds, none; spring vices, 302; cones, extra, 2,081; cone wrenches, none; arm chests, 287. Harper's Ferry-Muskets (percussion,) 11,000; rifles (percussion,) 2,802; sapper's musketoons, none; cavalry musketoons, none; artillery do., none; ball screws, 1,810; wipers, 12,664; screw-drivers, 13,296; bullet moulds, 918; spring vices, 1,321; cones, extra, 18,882; cone wrenches, 483; arm chests, 624. STEAM BOILER EXPLOSIONS. At a former session of congress a resolution was adopted by the senate calling upon the commissioner of patents for information in regard to explosions of steam boilers, with a view to farther legislation for their prevention, should it be deemed proper. In obedience to this resolution, Mr. Burke submitted to the senate a full and valuable report upon the subject. We copy the following summary of its statements from the Courier and Enquirer. Whole number of boats on which explosions have occurred Whole number of passengers killed (enumerated in 6 cases,) Whole number of officers killed, (enumerated in 31 cases) Whole number of crew killed, (enumerated in 25 cases) Whole number killed (in 164 cases) 233 140 57 103 1805 Whole number wounded (in 111 cases) 1015 Total amount of damages (in 75 cases) $997,650 Average number of passengers killed in the enumerated cases *23 Average number of officers The cause is stated in 98 cases; not stated in 125; unknown, 10; together I. Excessive pressure gradually increased was the cause in III. Defective construction IV. Carelessness or ignorance 233 16 16 33 31 2 Accidental (rolling of the boat) 1. Under pressure within a boiler, the pressure being gradually increased. In this class are the cases marked "excessive pressure." 2. Presence of unduly heated metal within a boiler. In this class are included, This average is not a fair one, as it is derived from but six cases, in one of which (the Pulaski) the very unusual number of 120 lives were lost. Deficiency of water Deposits 3. Defective construction of the boiler and its appendages. Improper or defective In this class are included- Inferior iron Iron too thin 14 2-16 Bad workmanship. Cast iron boiler Defective iron in flue Want of proper gauge cocks Extending wire walls Pipe badly constructed Defective boiler (nature of defect not stated) Total in this class, 3 1-15 3 1 1 1 1-7 11 33 4. Carelessness or ignorance of those intrusted with the management of the Date given in 177 cases, not stated in 56.-Total 233. GENERAL ESTIMATE. Of the total loss of life and property, calculated from the average of the The report of the Director of the United States Mint, which has just been laid before congress, shows the coinage of the mint during the year 1848 to have been as follows: The deposites for coinage amount to, in gold, $2,584,460; in silver, $466,732. [Number of pieces coined, 3,815,850.] $358,500 1.620.000 $1,978,500 The deposites for coinage amounted to, in gold, $183,360; in silver, $1,659,774. At Charlotte, North Carolina, the amount received during the year for coinage in gold, was $370,799; the coinage amounted to $364,330-composed of, half eagles 64,472, quarter eagles 16,788. At Dahlonega, Georgia, the amount received during the year for coinage in gold, was $274,473; amount coined, $271,752-composed in number of, half eagles 47,465, quarter eagles 13,771. The deposites at the four mints during the year amounted in all to $5,539,598. In gold, $3,413,092 2,126,506 $3,775,512 2,040,050 In copper, Total, 64,158 $5,879,720 The coinage of the British mint, for a period of ten years, from 1837 to 1847, was Of gold, Of silver, Equal in dollars to about 1533 millions. £34,878,666 3,329,717 67,103 £38,275,486 The greatest sum coined in gold in any one year in the mints of the United States, was in 1847, when the amount was $20,211,385, coined in the principal mint and branches.* The largest amount of gold coinage in England for any one year is put at £9,000,000, equal to $43,200,000. It is estimated that the whole coinage of Great Britain for the thirty-three years ending with Dec. 1847, amounted to ninety-two million pounds, equal to four hundred and forty-one and a half millions of dollars. Our coinage during the same thirty-three years, was about one hundred millions, making an aggregate of money coined by the United States and Great Britain alone, in the last third of a century, 5414 millions of dollars; yet both these countries have, during the whole of that period, been in the constant use of a paper currency. THE IRISH POTATO CROP. An estimate has just been published of the loss occasioned by the destruction of the potato crop in Ireland in 1846. In parliament, the loss was admitted to be £16,000,000. In the statistics of Ireland, (Thom's Almanac, 1848,) it is stated that the land devoted to the production of potatoes, is 2,457,409 statute acres, equal in Irish acres to 1,500,000. The annual estimated consumption of potatoes, exclusive of seed, amounts to (in tons) 13,650,000. Which at 1s. 7d. per cwt. £1 11s. 8d. per ton, would be worth * See p. 92, Vol. 1. £21,600,000 2,700,000 £24,300,000 The Dublin Evening Journal, alluding to the subject, says, "In losses by the potato alone, between 1845-8, the amount is fixed at thirty-seven millions sterling, to which must be added, for the rise in the price of seed, an additional sum of six millions, making a total of forty-three millions! Imagine such a sum swept away from the labour and subsistence fund of such a country as Ireland! It only surprises that with such overwhelming losses our people have been enabled to make such head against the calamity." BRITISH AND IRISH PRODUCE AND MANUFACTURES. The following is a table of the total value of British and Irish produce and manufactures exported from the United Kingdom to various countries in the year 1847: United States of America £10,974,161 | Egypt; ports on the Mediter 538,308 Central America New Grenada 100,688 ranean 697 13,881 Venezuela. 182,279 Morocco 16,231 Hanseatic towns. Heligoland. 250 British territories in the East 6,007,366 Western coast of Africa 518,420 688,208 Eastern coast of Africa 13,751 Islands in the Indian seas: Philippine Islands 101,486 British North American co Ascension and St. Helena 31,378 307 Mauritius 223,563 |