bt Vrouiurto.

The first of the new line of steam-ships to the coast of Africa, belonging to the African Steam Navigation Company—the Forerunner, Captain J. B. Atkins—arrived at Plymouth on Sunday last. Her cargo consists of 800 ounces of gold, a quantity of palm-oil and bees-wax, 320 bags of co- chineal from Teneriffe, and 20 boxes of oranges from Madeira. She left Sierra Leone on the 18th October, was dismasted in a gale on the 4th November, and put into Gibraltar on the 8th. [tore she received every attention and assistance from the port-officers. The passengers who left the Forerunner at Gibraltar, wrote a letter of thanks to Captain Atkins for his kindness on the voyage and his coolness and discretion during the gale of the 4th. They left the vessel because time was of importance to them, and not from any want of confidence in him or doubt as to the sea- worthiness of the Forerunner.

Along the course of the Thames—especially at Maidenhead, Reading, and Oxford—the low-lying parts have been again coveped with water this week. Near Oxford, travellers by both the Great Western and North-western rail- ways have been unable to pass over portions of the lines. Large trees have been washed down, and in the towns a great deal of damage has been done in the lower parts of houses. At Maidenhead, people have been obliged to employ boats to move from house to house.

There have been several accidents with loss of life by water in the vicinity of Windsor. Two farmers had rowed a companion to an islet to shoot wild- fowl ; after they had landed him the boat was upset in a current, and both the farmers were drowned. A labourer who had been drinking freely was too late to be ferried across a road which was under water ; he sat down

amid the water which he had tried to ford, and was found dead next morn- ing from wet and cold. A boat was upset at Old Windsor, and a boy who was rowing it perished a gentleman who was in the boat clung to a railing till he was rescued.

Four persons have perished at Walton-on-Thames, by an accident arising from the flooded state of the country. Lilley, a labourer employed at App's Court farm lived in a cottage not far distant ; but to reach it he had to cross

a moat filled with water which surrounds the farm : ordinarily, there is a passage by means of an embankment intersecting the moat, but on Saturday

this path was under water. Lilley, his wife, and a girl and boy, had been at work on the farm ; at five o'clock they set out to return home, but the man went to the stables for a short time. Mrs. Lilley and her children reached the moat ; the vessel that was to be employed as a boat to ferry them over was a beer-cooler, seven feet long, four wide, and only seven inches deep. While the family were waiting for the father, Jarvis, a shepherd, offered to ferry them across. The four entered the beer-cooler, and Jarvis used a long pole to push it along. Suddenly the people were seen struggling in the water, and the cooler was full of water. Assistance was obtained, and the birdies recovered; but life was extinct. A verdict of "Accidental death" has been returned.

Leicester has been flooded for the second time. After the waters had sub- sided last week, heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday so swelled the river Soar, that on Monday a part of the town was laid under water, though not to so great a depth as before. It is feared that the health of the inhabitants will suffer : some cases of fever are reported.

Somersetshire has also suffered again. At Bristol, the Frome has over- flowed its banks; and a large extent of country is under water.

Henry Blackband, son of the aged couple who were murdered near Stafford, has been committed for trial for the murder, with three others, all Irishmen

Clifton, near Bristol, has lately suffered from the depredations of a gang of burglars, supposed to be London " cracksmen." After breaking into and plundering several houses, they concluded with ransacking a jeweller's shop, and got clear off with a large amount of valuable property.

Manchester is suffering a good deal at present from the operations of people who are putting forged bank-notes and spurious coin into circulation. It is remarked, that " coiners are very successful in passing their base money ; and it is to be regretted that many parties, discouraged by the loss of time in attending a court of justice, where the pay of witnesses is only half-a- crown a day, will not come forward to assist in punishing the offenders."

Mr. Dodd, Paymaster of the Fiftieth Regiment, has accidentally killed himself, at Preston. He was generally abstemious in his habits, but one morning he indulged rather freely in wine and spirits, and while confused by the drink he swallowed a quantity of vitriol in mistake for water.

Two men and two boys have perished in a coal-pit at Bryndu in Wales, in consequence of their own temerity and disobedience of orders. No one should have entered the pit in the morning till the fireman had examined it with a lamp and reported it safe; these people, however, went into the workings before this had been done ; their naked candles fired an accumulation of gas, and all were killed on the spot.

There has been a collision at the Bello Pill station of the South Wales Railway. A goods-train ran into a train of coal-waggons which was about to cross the line ; the driver and fireman of the coal-train were thrown from the engine, and were slightly cut and bruised. The coal-train ran forward towards Gloucester without any one to control it ; fortunately, the steam was exhausted before it arrived at any obstruction—had it advanced a little further, in all probability it would have run into a passenger-train standing on the line, while the tickets were collected. It does not appear who was in fault in causing the collision.

Mrs. Mary Cloves, of Regency Square, Brighton, the lady whose leg was broken on the Brighton Railway at Redhill in the collision on the 1st in- stant, died on Saturday last.

Joseph Mountain, a young men of Ripon, has been killed at the Mel- merby railway station, at night : he was crushed between the train and the platform. It would seem that he attempted to leave the carriages while they were in motion.

Through the negligence of a gate-keeper, as it is alleged, a boy has been killed on the Great Northern Railway, at a crossing of the Pinchbeck road. A cart containing two men and a boy was allowed to get on a level crossing as a train approached ; the train ran into the cart, and went over the boy ; the men and the horse escaped unhurt. The gate-keeper was taken into custody.

A mass of buildings at Elland, near Halifax, consisting of a cotton-mill, a woollen-mill, and a steam corn-mill, has been destroyed by a fire which originated in a man dropping a lighted match on some "cotton fly," early in the morning, while he was employed lighting up the premises for the workpeople, who had not yet arrived.