COMMERCIAL

Nelson Evening Mail, 22 July 1916, Page 5

COMMERCIAL

LONDON METAL MARKETS. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Rec. Julv 22, 11.45 a.m.) " LONDON, Julv 21. Copper £9O 5s and £BB 5s ; electrolytic £121! lead £2B and ; spelter £sl and £47: tin £166 12s 6d and £'l6s 17s 6d ; silver 29|d an ounce.

(By Telegraph.—Special to Mail.)

WELLINGTON, Julv 21

Burbidge and Son report excellent demand for all kinds of apples, especial'ty Sturmers and hest cookers. Eggs keep firm; potatoes, green vegetabos, poultry and pork realise high prices. Doughertys 8s to 10s; Delicious 8s to 10s ; Sturmers 8s to lis 6d ; Rokewoods 6s to 7s 9d • Rhymers 5s 6d to 7s ; Munroes 6s to 8s ; Washingtons 7s to 8s ; Lord Wolseleys 7s to 8s 9d ; Epps' Seedlings 4s 9d to 5s 9d.

Pears-, dessert, 12s to 14s; cooking 8s to 10s; dump cases. Eggs, Is 8d dozen. Potatoes, £8 10s ton; cabbages 125.; cauliflowers 14s sack.

Fowls 6s; ducks 7s 6cl pair : pork 6Ad to 7d lb. .

Letters received in San Francisco and New York from Australian and New Zealand) soldiers on the French campaign,, line confirm the statement that one of the results of the presence of the British Army in France is' that a good many British soldiers will take French wives home with them (writes the American correspondent of the Christchurch Press). The difference in language, far from being a- barrier,'is an accessorv. Tommy Atkins teaches Mis* France English, and Miss France teaches Tommy Atkins French. One writer, in an American print, says, relative to the subject:—-"There is plenty of leisure for the courtship to develop. Frequently British battalions remain in the same section for months at a time. When the men have done their shift in the trenches they return, 'in rest,' as the saying goes, to the same villages whc.ro thev wero before. Usually they have quarters in the French houses. In a sense they become members of the community. With the French-menfolk away, the British soldier lends a hand with any heavy work which requires a man's strength. In one instance a. British soldier was seen drawing a harrow. A feminine hand did some serving or cooking in return. The romantic atmosphere is not lacking. When the Briton says 'Au revoir' to his sweetheart and starts for the trenches he may never come back ; and he is going to light for France. On Sunday afternoons the girls are out in their best frocks, as they .arc anywhere else in the world, and, Walking with them along the roads and lanes are men in khaki. Their conversations are a mixture of French and English. Itis not romance alone that leads the Briton to marry in France. He has learned to admire the thrift and cleverness of the French woman and her industry in taking the place of her father and hro- . thers who are at tho front.