GENERAL NEWS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 159, 30 October 1896, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

EUROPEAN AND FOREIGN. j London, Oct. 2D. The report that the British squadron in North American waters is to be increased to twice its present strength is officially denied. The balance-sheet of Dalgcty and Co. shows a profit of i' 98,865. A dividend of 8 per cent, was declared, and £13,865 carried forward. A 4 per cent, dividend has been declared by the New Zealand and Australian Land Company. .Justice Williams granted an application for the compulsory winding-up ot he firm of Alfred Shaw and Co., hardware merchants, Melbourne and London. The cyclists, Megson, Lewis, and Payne, have sailed for Australia. Mr Read, chairman of the New Explorers Syndicate, in a letter to the Financial News, states that many of the leading issuing houses have decided to boycott West Australian properties until the laws respecting labor conditions are altered. The News that the Government had better without compulsion. The price of wheat in England and the United States is fluctuating, and the market is slightly easier. Pakis, Oct. 29. Le Temps declares that a FrancoRussian alliance would not be hostile to Great Britain, and that all disputes between those nations can be adjusted by diplomacy. Calcutta, Oct. 29. There is still no prospect of rain falling, and a famine throughout the country is inevitable.