WELLINGTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 41

WELLINGTON.

T!.e wife nf the Hex. F. A. Bennett died on the 10th from septic pneumonia, following on an operation.

Letters frcn London state that Mr Falvey, the New Zealand inventor of the reversible steam turbine, has succeeded in forming the Falvey Turbine Company in London with a capital of £5000 to work his invention. Patent rights have been taken out all over the world. A large machine is to be built on t-lie Clyde by Messrs Denny and Bros, to test its power. Dr Hocken's bibliography of New Zealand literature is on the point of being issued from the Government Printing Office. The bibliography (fays the Post) names and describes the title and contents of every book in which reference is made to New Zealand from the time of Tasman (the first to refer to New Zealand) down to the present day, constituting an almost invaluable reference to the students of our colonial affairs, who will be enabled to discover from the titles of t\ie works and the summaries attached the contents of any work mentioned. Another valuable book, though of a more exclusively scientific character, is being prepared by the Government Printing Office. It is the history of the sub- Antarctic expedition organised by the Canterbury Philosophical Institute. The zoology, botany, geology, etc., of the sub-Antarctic islands are described in detail by the specialists who were attached to the expedition. The book will be of great scientific value. It

is being edited by Dr Chilton, of Canterbury College, and will contain a large number of very fine and interesting illustrations.

Solomon Levy, undergoing a sentence of two years' imprisonment., and who was recently brought from Auckland, snatched up a shoemaker's knife at the Terrace Gaol on the 7th inst. axtd cashed his throat, inflicting an ugly wound.

Messrs William Allan ana W. C. Buchanan, M.P., have been re-elected on a ballot to the Wellington Education Board as representatives of the Wellington and ' Wairarapa Wards respectively. Mr John Kebbell was re-elected unopposed to represent the Manawatu Ward. Restaurateurs who have been complaining that the counter lunch, the free concomitant of beer, in a certain fourpenny bar has developed into a straight-out meal, to the detriment of sixpenny, ninepenny, and shilling dining rooms, brought their grievances definitely before the committee of the Wellington Licensed Victuallers' Association last week. The chairman of the association (Mr M'Parland) said that its policy was '"live and let live." It would no-t be wise to abolish the ancient custom of a mild counter i lunch (" finger-pieces," such as biscuits : and cheese and various tit-bits), but the ! members as. a whole did not countenance I the free-meal idea. Subsequently the ; committee interviewed the hotelkeeper mentioned, and he , agreed to modify his bar provender in some respects. The dispute between the engine-drivers and firemen and the State collieries has , been amicably settled through the instrumentality of Mr Hally (Conciliation Commissioner).