CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 2998, 9 December 1896, Page 3

CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

No stronger ieztiiilcnif of ri City a growth and her business expansion bd borne in r»pon not only visitors but hoy oWU people fh'fth ttf cnlargomonts and improvements to plftdCd bf j and ft great deal of alterations and repairs adi been going on In Wellington of late. The' latest to' edme tmder c4r c'otfe'e fa the extension' of the’ premises used by liaillie Bros., iff Cuba street, for thflir fa'st-growlng bookselling, stationery and publishing trade. A visit c?f # representative showed that Mr Heroert Haillio Kas had to go’’further back through the forward ffiofeWcrffcof business, and be was found in the midst of pdfq of Christmas goods just opening up. There lay all ffrotjna him piles upon piles of tho Ohristmoa nutfl- ' befsht too gr«at English illustrated weeklies, and in the encir/ also seen a fast-diS : ; appeariog. pile of the Ciiil‘tv£\*i- Exhibition Number of the New Zeapani) MAxmpended from tho ceiling hung the Iqvely highclass chromos given away with the specials. ; Pears’ Annual has ever been noted for its fine coloured presents, and this year it surpasses itself in C. Green’s “Christmas Comes but Ome a Tear,” ivnd keeps up tho in other two pictures by Hugh Thomson ; whilst a distinct departure is made In its literary matter, which this year is original, in place of a Dickens boolr. Conspicuous hantti a touching picture, “ Motherless,” from Walter Langley’s brush, which ia given with and White, and tho literary matter inolfldes stories by su*H modern masters as Gilbert Parker, Frankfort Mdorc, Cope Cornford (a now romance writer), Maclarcn Cobban, H. G. Wells, and Henley. S. Begg, ftn old Napier boy, is responsible for some of the best black and white illustrating. A picture, well-named Flaming June,” by the late Sir F. Leighton (the first of his pictures roproduced in colours it is) goes with the Graphic, and it is well worth studying, whilst a fine yarn by Rudyard Kipling, and others by Bret Harto, ” Q,” Norris and Weyman make limits fiction, and it keeps up its Christmasy reputation for comi* coloured cartoons. Grant Alien, Marion Crawfutd. and Thomas Hardy are the writers for t the Illdatratod London Nows, and the plate given a Way is entitled “Symphony,” by the late C. Burton Harbor, well worthy a frame. Other specials there are backing each other up, and cases are coming to hand daily to . supply the deservedly largo trade in these wares that Messrs Baillio Bros, have worked up for themselves by enterprise, diligence and industry, _