The Mauritius Tornado.

Manawatu Herald, 2 June 1892, Page 2

The Mauritius Tornado.

«. The island of Mauritius, a British possession, lies in the Indian ocean to the east of the large island of Madagascar, which lies off the south east coast of Africa. It is just within the tropics and lies in the steam route from Liverpool to Bombay it was originally the property of the Dutch, then became French and in 1810 it w?s captured by the Eritish. The iuhabitauts. of European descent are mostly R>nian Catholics, and are mainly of French origin. Coolies were imported for working the sugar estates which is the main industry of the island. The capital of the island is St. Louis, situated on the north west coast on the borders of an excellent harbour. The details of the tornado as forwarded by the Press Association state that " There was no indication ia the morning of the approach of the storm, but at noon the wind increased to the rate of 68 miles per hour with te rific squalls. Still no damage was done. At 2.30 p.m. there was a lull for an hour, when suddenly the wind veered round to the south west. A hissing noise was heard, followed by a squall of wind of tremendous speed, which burst like a clap of thunder, causing fearful vibration of the buildings Squall followed squall in thick succession, and the rate the wind was blowing was 128 miles an hour. The sights in the streets were of horrible nature as the building began to fall. The wind soon abated, and within an hour relief parties wera out. The debrii, catching fire, was a new element of destruction, and many of the wounded in the falling buildings were burned to death. The estimated damage to the A buildings is twelve million rupees, and to the sugar crop fourteen million rupees. Tho damage to the country is assessed at two million rupees . A third of St Louis was annihilated. Countless houses and pablic building 3, including 24 churches, razed, and the greater part of the sugar crop was destroyed, It is estimated that 23,000 people have been rendered homeless." I The total population was oijti- ' mated in 1890 at 877,986 of whbm i 258,985 were coolies, The chief irade is with India. "We find a similar hurricane reported in 1868 * which resulted in much loss of lifo besides great damage to shipping and buildings. It was in this dependency that the dispute took place between Sir J. Pope Hennessy and Mr Clifford Lloyd, and which our late Governor Sir Hercules lfobinson was sent, as royal commissioner, to settle. He suspended the Gorernor, but aftec being admonished Sir John Pope Henneesy was reinstated, and Mr Lloyd Bent as Governor, fo the

Seychelles islands, which lie 940 miles north of Mauritius and are subordinate to the Governor of th latter dependency. The Mauritius though srnal 1 , has yet smaller dependencies, the Seychelles islands some thirty, so email that their total area is compute! between 78 to IGO square miles, beinj? one, the Rod rigues 850 miles further off, being another, and the scattered groups of coral islands i:i the Indian ocean being even another. These aye go numerous as to bo an immpo3si'iility to give an exact list, but the largest is Diego Garcia, one of the Chagos Archipelago, which lies in the direct route from the Red Bea to Australia. Wo find it stated that the Rodrignes suffers much from hurricanes.