SCOTLAND.
According to the Perthshire Advertiser, Sir William Rae is to be " provided for " with the Chairmanship de new Board of Customs at Leith and a salary of 1,500/. ; and Sir William's successor as Lord Advocate is either to be Mr. Duncan M'Neill or Mr. Adam Anderson, The presentation of Mr. Wylie, an acknowledged Moderate, to the church at Elgin, is taken by the Edinburgh Observer as an act which proves that Government will not directly or indirectly countenance the Nonintrusion faction.
The number of ministers and members of Dissenting churches who have promised to attend the Anti-Corn-law Conference in Edinburgh, on the 11th and 12th January next, has greatly exceeded the anticipa- tion of its projectors : 201 ministers and 452 members bad promised to attend, and every post brought additional names. In addition to those who are to attend, nearly 300 other ministers, who from various causes are unable to leave their homes at this season, had signified their appro- bation of the proposed meeting.
At ten o'clock at night on Thursday week, the inhabitants of Dundee were terrified b4r a tremendous explosion, accompanied by a broad, bright flood of light, and followed by utter darkness, all the gas-lights being extinguished : a gasometer had exploded at the Gas-works ; and soon afterwards it was found that the works were on fire. The few who braved the fear lest the other gasometers should also explode, and ventured into the yard of the place, found Mr. Russell the manager and some firemen labouring to arrest the flames, amid a scene of destruction. The building which supported the meter was quite destroyed : pon- derous stone walls were levelled on each side, and the roof had fallen in the midst. The fire was subdued by midnight. There were seven workmen on the premises : two were killed in the retort-house, which was destroyed ; but the others were unhurt. For many hundred yards round the spot, windows and doors were smashed, roofs were toppled down, and stone buildings were seriously shattered. In a neighbouring mill an iron press fastened to the wall was forced from it. Door-bolts were wrenched up in their sockets. The explosion was felt throughout a wide tract of country—at Ferryport-on-Craig, Cupar-Fife, Crieff, Montrose, and Arbroath. In Perth, the flash of light was seen by a gentleman, and he heard the explosion ; the watchman in Perth Harbour recorded in his book that he had seen a flash of lightning and heard thunder of a remarkable kind. A judicial investigation into the cause of the explosion commenced before the Sheriff and the Procurator- fiscal on Monday.
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