MAURITIUS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 52, 8 May 1863, Page 2 (Supplement)

MAURITIUS.

The S. A. Register acknowledges dates from Port Louis to the sth February, {riving the following extracts from the Commercial Gazette: — Major-General Johnstone is now the , Acting-Governor of Mauritius. Our railway works are proceeding with every activity. The north line as far as Labourdonnais will soon be completed, but we see not even a commencement of the stations. The present crowded state of tho main road to Pamplemousses calls loudly for the relief the railway can afford, and public interest also requires that this im--1 proved communication be placed at its ! disposal without any unnecessary delay. The Union Steam Company appear to be in earnest in their proposal to extend the line of steam communication from the Cape of Good Hope to Mauritius. We f have already proposed L 3,000 as our con tribution to the Company that will establish a regular monthly & communication between this colony and the Cape, and we can afford to be still more liberal when we reflect on the benefits it will brine:. What took place lately? Sugar found no purchasers from want of shippinsf. and where did relief come from? In December no less than eighteen vessels arrived from the Cape. It took a month to communicate with that place — ten to twelve days would be sufficient by steam. It is difficult to estimate how much the colony would have gained hy a prompt communication during the last few months. Massac he of Seamen ov the Royal Navy. — A private letter of an officer of 1 H.M.S. Gorgon informs us of a sad event : Fifteen men and a sub-lieutenant of H.M.S. Penguin, who were chasing a dhow, were horribly massacred by the natives, on the coast of Soumali, near Cape Guardafui. at the entrance of the Red Sea. Eight of the murderers were afterwards captured and killed.