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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 95, 22 April 1879, Page 2

A meeting of the members of the Nelson Football Club was held at the Masonic Hotel on Saturday eveniug, Mr W. Clouston in the chair. Messrs Curtis, C. Hodgson, -W. Burnett, and S. Wells were elected as a Committee, aud Mr U. Hodgson was re-elected Secretary, for the ensuing year. The opening game will take place on Saturday afternoon next iv tbe Botanical Gardens. After passing a vote of thanks to the Chairman the meeting terminated. At a special meeting of the City Council held last night, the following resolution was moved by Cr Everett :— " That shonld the ratepayers take a favorable view of the scheme recently proposed, as now advertised, re the borrowing of £10,000 for carrying out permanent works in this city, this Council pledges itself to reduce the general rate as now levied from Is to 9d in the £ , so that the special and general rate combined shall not exceed ls in the £." He argued that though the present Council could in no way bind their successors to any particular line of action, it was always open to tbe ratepayers to see that they returned none but those who would carry out their wishes on the subject of rates. He thought there would be less demand on the general rates while the special works were going on, and therefore that so large an ordinary revenue as they now had would not be required. The resolution was unanimously agreed to. At the Supreme Court yesterday tn banco the Chief Justice reserved judgment in the case of Gully v. Fell, an action brought to test the power of the City Council to make a bye-law insisting upeu owners of land clearing the gorse off their properties. The meeting of ratepayers which wa3 to have been held to-night is unavoidably postponed owing to the absence of the Mayor, who, in consequence of the fatal accident which occurred at Wellington on Saturday to a member of his family, was compelled to go over there iv the Wallace yesterday. The Council having been ;advised that the Mayor must preside in order to make the meeting legal have, therefore, decided upon taking this step, and as a month's notice of the meeting must be given, that time at least will bave to elapse before it can be held.

"Te Whiti has ordered the settlers and constables to leave Opunake." Thus cmtly runs a telegram which appears in another column. The words are few, but they are ominous, for Te Whiti must surely be well assured of being backed by a large number of his fellow-countrymen before he would dare to issue such an order as this. Evidently the Native difficulty is not settled yet. A special meeting of the members of the Naval Brigade will be held at the Port Fire Brigade Hall this evening. The special time table arranged for tomorrow by Mr Stone, the railway manager, will be found elsewhere. It is calculated to suit the convenience of all, and will probably lead to a large number of visitors attending the Show at Richmond. Mr Mabin and Mr Pickering will be on the ground to conduct auction sales. Twenty-one members of the Artillery fired yesterday for the District Prizes. The ranges were 200, 400, and 500 yards; five shots at each. The highest scores made were :— Bombardier Hood 45, Gunners H. Wimsett 44, Clouston 44, Barraclough 39, C. Jenniugs 38, Twist 38', Wimsett, jun., 37". rhe District School embroglio (says the Wdtport Tunes') seems as far from settlement as ever. The Central Board at Nelson has twice ruled tbat the expelled boys must be re-admitted, but the Local Board still hold to their determination to keep them out. One of the boy 3 went to the school on Thursday afternoon, hut was ejected by the master, who said that his instructions from the Local Committee were not to re-admit the boys, and that he did not recognise the Central Board in the matter. The Timaru Herald of Saturday makes the followiug serious announcement .' — "For a long time past it has beeu known that a feeling of the most inteuse dissatisfaction existed in the minds ot the majority of the Tele graph Department officials owing to one cause or another, aud we now know that a strike is imminent. The preliminaries for it have been arranged, and the final steps may be looked for at any moment. The following Christchurch telegram of Thursdaj- last appears in a contemporary : — A most determined attempt to burn down the furniture shop of H. Fuhrman, Colombo street, took place last evening. At the rear of Fuhrman's warehouse, in which there was a very large stock, is a sort of lean-to openiug to the back yard entrance, which is gained by a gate in Cathedral-square. This lean-to is lighted by a small window. The person or persons attempting to set flre to the premises had broken open this gate, and then smashed in the window. Immediately under the window were a quantity of iron bedsteads wrapped round with paper, and close by a heap of paper and wrappers from bedsteads sold and removed from off the bedsteads had been poured a quantity of inflammable liquid, consisting of kerosene, varnish, Sec, and by the bedsteads was lying a full bottle of the same mixture. Judging from the number of matches lying about several attempts had been made before the stuff took fire however, aud this must have been at last accomplished, as when it was discovered this morning the fire had burnt the whole of the wrapping paper off the bedsteads, and had also run part of the way up the lining of the building, burning the board?. Fortunately the fire must, wheu it reached nearly to the ceiling, have died out of its own accord, as tbere are no further traces. Had it once caught a heap of paper in the corner a large and probably destructive fire would have occurred, as the shop is surrounded by wooden buildings, amongst them being the present Telegraph office, which is next door.