The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-07 00:00:00

FIRE AT ALICE TOWN.

From a letter received by this morning's post we
extract the following account of a destructive fire
which took place at Alice Town on the 31st ult., and
which appears to have occurred in consequence of
some natives being employed in cooking in a small
house, used for culinary purposes, which was con-
tiguous to the commissariat stores :
" Alice, June 1, 1848.
" Last night this post (Fort Hare) was in a great state
of excitement, a fire having broken out in the commis-
sariat hay stores, close to the powder magazine, between
six and seven, P.m. We were hard at work till near
one o'clock, A.m., when the fire was prevented from ex-
tending further. Two long range of buildings are down
to the ground, and it is said about 4001. of oat hay burnt.
It is still burning, and likely to do so, for another day.
Some of the other buildings were immediately unroofed,
or the fire would have greatly extended."

CONFLICT OF THREE EUROPEANS WITH A
KAFIR, IN WHICH THE LATTER WAS
MORTALLY WOUNDED.

The same post has brought us the intelligence of
the death of a Klfir by some Europeans. As the
letters which refer to this event were written when
the preliminary examinations were going forward, we
can only give the perticulars which they supply :
"On the night of the 31st ult., a little after nine
o'clock, a European came to the house of the resident
clerk of the peace, and stated that he had just beenassaulted by Kafirs. He appeared severely cutthat
d
maltreated. On inquiring the particulars, he saida
hwhen a
s ataboutattacked
ka mileed
three
Ks
Alice
fi on
firs,
, andtheithen Fort
d eßf
otheran w
ud
tonrgto read,hriman:
self he killed one of them, when
away. The constable and another person, accompanied
by this man, immediately went to the place where the
outrage was said to have been committed. The night
was extremely dark, but they succeeded in reaching the
spot, and after searching some time for the body of the
Kafir, the man who reported himself to have been so
brutally used, exclaimed, Here he is 1' On approach-
ing nearer, they saw the body cf a Kafir lifeless in the
centre of the road. The constable struck a light with a
view to examine the body, but on recollecting himself,
being near a dense bush, and unarmed, without knowing
the facts of the case, ho immediately extinguished it.
After removing the body from the main road to the side
of the bush, they returned to give information, and pro-
cure assistance from the military to bring the body to
Alice.

" A party of thirty men were sent out, who on the
following morning at ten o'clock brought in the corpse
on a stretcher, and conveyed it to the office, where a
doctor was immediately called in to ascertain the cause
of his death.
" On the investigation of the case, it appears that the
Kafir was barbarously murdered. The Englishman who
reported himself to have been attacked by three Kafirs
was in company with two other Europeans and this
Kafir, and in some quarrel or other they fell upon him
and murdered him. Two of the men are now in custody,
and the constable is in search of the third."
Another correspondent writes.—
" A murder was committed here the night before last
by two military settlers. The latter stated that when
going to Fort Beaufort the night before last, that they
were attacked by three Kafirs, and in self-defence they
killed one of the Kafirs. It, however, appears that they
took this Kafir (who is murdered) with them from Alicey
by these
particularsln
to carry their goods,
_ and from the exatninations taken
it
lavppeehaorpsethteoKbaeli Kafir
ea s
to
supply
i) strangledply
posed on account of about 21. which he had." en'
sup-
posed
of this tragical affair next week.

THE RECENT FATAL ACCIDENT AT THE LONDON
UmvEnsm.—Late last evening, Mr. Mills, the deputy
coroner, held a lengthened investigation at the Univer-
sit)? College Hospital, into the circumstances attending
the death of Charles Richard \Vigmore, bricklayer, aged
28, whose death was occasioned by the giving way 9f
the scaffolding at the new wing of the University, now in
course of erection. W. Wigniore, a brother of the de-
ceased, was upon the jury. After examining several
witnesses, the jury returned the following special ver-
dict, " That the deceased died from mortal injuries of
his body caused by his having fallen with a certain scaf-
fold, and that the said scaffold did fall and break down
owing to the sudden breaking of a certain pole, and that
the said pole was unsound and unfit for use in a,scaffold,
there
and broke by means of its decay at a timeo
when
iln
calculated
was great pressure upon it, such as it was.
to sustain and support." The inquiry did n
not terminate
till twefve o'clock.
THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT .—Yesterday the
House of Commons in Palace-yard, and
Chamber, commenced.
fronto the
The whole of these unsightly wooden buildnigs are to
and the
star., Committee-roomsi.n
removal
Westminster o f
the temporary
be demolished during the recess.