The Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1879.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 262, 15 November 1879, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1879.

The grocers of Wellington are wise in their generation. It is pretty well understood that after Monday next, on which day Major Atkinson will deliver his financial statement, the halfpenny per pound duty which was taken off sugar last year will be re-imposed, so those provident grocers, taking time by the forelock, have aiready raised the price in anticipation of the increased duty. Should rumor prove incorrect, as occasionally it does, and the halfpenny not be put on again, will those grocers, who are so progressive as to be in advance of the times, lower the price of the sweet commodity ? There is, at least, room for doubt. At the District Court to-day Mr Bunny applied for and obtained the discharge of Thomas Astle, a bankrupt. Nominations for the Mayoralty of Nelson must be sent in before noou on Tuesday next. We are glad to learn that Mr Dodson has consented to become a candidate again, and up to the present time he ia the only one' nominated. Ths requisition to Mr Shephard, M.H.R , which we published some time ago, has been forwarded to Wellington this week with 132 signatures appended to it. Although this is not a majority of the electors on the roll, it is a larger number than ever voted for any candidate in the district. Tiik Customs receipts for the week ending this day were £924 15s Bd. The Horticultural Society announce that the spring Show of flowers, fruits, and vegetables is to take place on the 25th and 26th instant, when a beautiful exhibition of roses may be expected, as the cutture of this queen amongst flowers is considerably on the increase in Nelson. We are sorry to learn that this year is going to prove a very bad one for Btone fruits of all kinds. Of apricots there are hardly any, plums of all kinds are very scarce, and the crop of cherries will be far 3hort of the usual yield. On the other hand strawberries are very plentiful, and the apples promise well, but the pear trees do not look as well as they might do. On the whole,;thja season, we fear, will be anything but a prosperous one for owners of gardens and orchards. The failure of the frit crop is generally attributed to two or three sharp frosts that occurred on successive nights about a month ago. We are glad to find by the Sydney Moninq Herald that the New Zealand Court iv the Exhibition is attracting much atu-ntion especially the Fine Arts exhibits. Among these Miss Harris' water color paintings are thus noticed:—" The partitiou of the apartment in which Guthrie and Larnach's goods are shown ia hnug with some extremely pretty water color drawings of New Zealand wild flowers and berries, drawn by a New Zealand lady, and they form an appropriate

embellishment, investing the products of New Zealand forest industry with something ot the poetry and beauty of the primeval landscape." Mr Gully's landscapes are much admired* and we understand 'that he is already receiving orders for new paintings. Ihe gardens in all directions are being laid uuder contribution for the annual flower services which will be held to-morrow at the Congregational Church, which as usual will be very prettily decorated for the occasion. A max named James Williams Willan, an absconding debtor, who on Thursday evening sailed from New Plymouth in the Wellington leaving a few lamenting friends behind him, arrived here yesterday morning, and apparently intended to spend a few days in Nelson, but, unfortunately for him, tbe wires had been at work, and his visit was ruthlessly cut short by Detective Ede, who disturbed him whilst* comfortably enjoying his dinner at an hotel, took him before two Justices, bad him remanded to New Plymouth, and packed him off in the taiaroa in tbe evening, so that his trusting friends would not be deprived of the pleasure of his company for more than six and thirty hours. What with cables, wires, steamboats, and detectivas, a runaway does not staud much of a show iv New Zealand at the present time.