MAURITIUS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3407, 17 June 1868, Page 4

MAURITIUS.

Mora attention than could have been anticipated: has been attracted in England to the fever prevailing hare, through the lan dog of the 86th Regiment in December last. It appears the regiment was ordered to land in opposition to medical authority, it na» been said to suit the convenience of the colonel ot the regiment. There was not proper 'accommodation for more troops except in the barracks in the midst of Port Lonis, where the fever was reappearing, and sereMlof the men of the regiment were attacked Ifter Unding ; but it is satisfactory to hare to state Sat onfy?wo soldiers of the 86th have died from fever, .

Feom the Port Louis Commercial Gazette of the 25th April we take the following extracts :—: — A month has elapsed since the date o! our last Overland. We were just recovering from a severe hurricane, and had barely time to correctly estimate the extent of our disasters. The damage done as regards buildings was not by any means exaggerated, as will be sena by an official statement prepared by the police department and published below. But ' with regard to the plantations, owing to the very ' favourable weather since, the reduction in the crop will be far less than was generally expected when the last mail left. Only very few plantations that were far advanced for the season have been seriously injured. The oanes, generally speaking, were laid, but frequent showere have restored an active vegetation, and the loss in this raspeot will be comparatively small. The reduotion will not be more than 10 per cent., so that 135,000 tons may be fairly calculated on, as we are now clear of the hurricane season. Wjth this prospeot there is more oonfidenoe than might have been ezpeoted after a hurricane causing so considerable a destruction of property in buildings, &c. However, the loss sustained has been increased by the enhancement of the price of building materials, and the Government find that the original estimates of the damage done to the railway and other public works will be far exoeeded. Labourers' wages keep moderate, but vary in different districts. Artisans, being in great demand, and their number considerably diminished by the fever, get much higher wages than before the hurriotne. Rice is at much lower prices than last year ; imports have considerably deolined, and there can be no doubt that the crop will be reached with less expense than in previous years when the quantity of sugar made was considerably less. Under these circumstances 1 , if there is no material decline in the sugar markets abroad, the coming crop will leave a fair balance in favour of the colony. Our financial position is not prosperous j our reserve is exhausted, our revenue is declining, we hare a debt of a million on account of our railways, whion for more reasons than one are not yet answering expectations, and an additional loan of £100,000 is about to be made for the expense of repairing the railway bridge and other public works which were damaged in the late hurricane. Yet we see no reason to despair. The expenditure has been reduced down to the revenue— £2B,ooo have been cut off the estimates of the year ; the crop, as we have already stated, will be larger than the crops of late years ; disease in the cane and with it destructive insects are disappearing with the favourable season ; considerably less ii expended for imports, our supply of grain is more regular and less eventual, and with ordinary seasons Mauritius will again become prosperous, and we see no reason why we should not add healthy. No country has been more abundantly or more timely watered by rains than this island during the last five months ; in the higher parts not less than 100 inohes have fallen in that time— a quantity far beyond the yearly average, and men of experience in the matter are of opinion that we are entering a series of rainy years. Without the hurricane of last month the next crop would have probably been the largest ever made. We may therefore say that notwithstanding oue misfortunes the prospects of the colony are more favourable than they have been for some time. The fever will not leave us. The mortality for the past month exceeds that of February, but since the firat of this month the number of deaths, and as far ' as we can learn the number of new cases of fever, have diminished, The deaths during the past month as com Dared with February are as follow :—: —

It is to be remarked that the increase is spread over all the districts. The deaths daily declared since the Ist instant have been as follow :—: —

The average daily mortality in the whole colony has been as follows :—: — February 76.8 March 90.8 April 69. The returns for Port Louis, on the 15fch and 16th, were 28. The total population of the colony is not at present more than 300,000. A death rate of 40 per 1,000 per annum would give 1,000 per month, and more than double that number have perished and are perishing. Taking the town separately with its 50,000 inhabitants and the average mortality of 1,000 per month, a few years would only be required to exterminate its population. But it cannot be supposed that this disease will continue its ravages, and as there is a great difference between ' the mortality in this year and Iwt we are led to hope that the fever will entirely disappear ia the cool leason.

Port Louis Pampletnousses... Kiy. dv Keinpwt Flacq Grand Port Savane Black River Plaines Wilhelms Moka March. 1,176 415 94 305 218 175 99 196 139 February. 943 371 85 225 178 115 74 143 95 2,817 2,229

pril, 186? 2.'.'. 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... 10... 11... 12... 13... 14... '8. Port Louis. .. 52 ... 23 .. 29 ... 27 ... 23 ... 37 ... 42 ... 35 ... 30 ... 21 ... 39 ... 13 ... 19 ... 48 District) 44 40 46 43 29 26 48 43 42 29 33 24 36 44 M. Total. 96 63 75 70 52 63 90 78 72 53 72 37 55 92