SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 8062, 8 January 1887, Page 6

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

[By Telegraph.] [from our own correspondents.] NEW PLYMOUTH, Jan. 7. The Natives are again on the move. A party from the coast were at Urenui yesterday, when, after partaking of refreshments, they went on to Whitecliffs. The Natives do not seem to approve of the new Native Lands Act, and are opposed to settling their lands under it. The Natives say it is treating them like children. The periodical competition for the Taranaki Rifle Company’s Challenge Belt was taken by Sergeant C. BaribaU, who topped the score with 66. Yesterday being the anniversary of the great bush fire at Stratford, the settlers got up a sort of demonstration there to recognise the useful services of the New Plymouth and Hawera Fire Brigades last year. There was a large attendance. One party going out from here met with an accident. The bolt that fastened the pole to the off-side came out, and the driver, in patting on the brake, suddenly got thrown out. The horses bolted, and the vehicle coming in contact with a bank then collapsed, throwing the occupants, a woman and two children and a man, into the middle of the road. The woman had her head cut, and the driver and the other passengers were severely shaken. The children escaped unhurt. The party were picked up by other conveyances, and taken on to Stratford. None were seriously hurt. Owing to the low price of butter, the farmers are potting down large quantities in anticipation of a foreign market becoming available. WANGANUI. Jan, 7. There is some talk among cavalry officers of interviewing the Defence Minister, with a view to getting placed on a more satisfactory footing respecting commissions. Old officers, with whom promotion has been slow, find themselves, after years of hard work, suddenly under (in point of rank) men who have not had the same experience ; and they intend to deputationise the Defence Minister, tsith a view to getting some provision made whereby cavalry officers, when receiving their promotion, may have their commissions antedated, and so regain their seniority. They lose at present by the very fast rate at which promotions are obtained in another branch of the service.