SCOTLAND.
A fire almost large enough to be called a conflagration, alarmed the good people of Perth not a little last Sunday. evening. It broke out originally among a quantity of dry sawn timber piled on the premises of Mr. A. Ro- bertson, a cabinet-maker of Union Street, and was first observed at a little after seven o'clock, making itself manifest in the usual way by volumes of smoke. Fire-engines were soon obtained, but water was scarce, and com- bustibles wonderfully plentiful. Another timberyard close by belonging to Mr. J. Smiles soon caught the dreadful disease and helped to spread the in- fection. In one building after another the flames burst out; and nearly the -whole South side of Union Street and almost the whole of Xinnoull Street were eventually destroyed. The fears of all present were greatly enhanced, when the fire was at its height, by a rumour that the New Gas Company's works had caught fire. The dread of an explosion sent hundreds away to distant parts of the town ; but nothing of the kind happened. Some barrels of tar and butter, however, in one of the timber yards added in no small de- gree to the splendour of the spectacle. The loss is estimated at about 60001., wonderfully little considering the magnitude of the affair.
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