MAURITIUS.

Southland Times, Issue 620, 18 January 1867, Page 2

MAURITIUS.

(From the Commercial Gazette..) Mauritius r liJ^ply.>i'a in a very satisfactory • conditiottj and .its finances have been^i>ttyi and 1 truthiuiiy^escribed as elastic. That' this is the; case is- due to' the intelligence :and perseverance of the community,- and also, ,ii must be said, to its well adapted system^ of -government. We have a large fralanc>r«f -^eyenue in hand, which would now have besen larger but that we have drawn on iT"to aid in the accomplishment of a great public work which, in the course of time, when its capacities and 5 , resources are fully developed, will proßably ibecome a source of revenue^ while it wiltulways be of the greatest utility and^ convenience to the public. Our genefal revenue is equal to our expenditure, and but for exceptional circumstances, such as the high price of grain, the extension of tobacco cultivation in the colony, and the combinations of distillers, would have exceeded the latter to some extent; and this, be it remembered, without the imposition of other than a nominal tax on exports of sugar and imports of rice, and reasonable duties on the entry of other goods and merchandise required by the colony. Our latest correspondence from Madagascar announces that the authorities there have prohibited the exportation of rice from that island. We cannot expect that the Hovas, notwithstanding their desire to imitate Europeans, and their inclination to extend their commerce, can understand the principles of free trade to their fullest extent, especially as the same principles are not yet thoroughly recognised and adopted in countries more intimately connected with the commerce of the world, and in a higher state of civilisation, than Madagascar. The continued dry weather, albeit very convenient for the cutting of canes and the manipulation of sugar, is beginning to be regarded as more than menancing the plantations for the ensuing year, and complaints have reached us from more than one quarter that the young canes are decidedly suffering, if indeed their healthy growth has not been irrevocably checked. This is but a sad prospect for the colony, struggling against a gigantic rival industry, oppressed by a of duties which shuts out a part of its produce from the European markets, obliged to pay wages to laborers out of proportion to the profits derived therefrom, and to purchase all kinds of provisions at extravagantly high prices.

A Rtoaway Majbbiage Pbevestted. — A contemporary states that a young gentleman of nineteen summers, and who on coming of age will -become the ppssessor of £100,000, lately went to Exmouth from Birmingham, where his guardian resides, in company with a tutor, to improve his health and. to increase his knowledge. The two took lodgings- at the. residence of a gardner, who had a very pretty daughter of about the same age as the young gentleman. 3?rom the first an ardent attachment seems to have been formed on both sides, and' the fair damsel soon forgot her old beau, who 1 is at sea, and whose half-pay she has received.. In the end the young people resolved to get married.; The -young lady left Exmouth on the night of October 14, by the' last train, accompanied by her mother and her future husband intending to remain at Exeter that night, and to be " taken for better or for worse " the following Sunday .morning. It appeared, however, that the object of their departure was siwpected, a^ajpj was sent in the same train to watch f their movements. He .traced them to^the Halfmoon Hotel,. and to the house of a relation to the young lady, and at once communicated his mformation by telegraph to the guardian, at Birmingham. The young gentleman retired to rest at I the hotelaboiit twelvelo!clock.i:i HeTslept in peace, until about four., o'clock, when he J /^eVgTurdian, on receiving the telegram, had immediately hastened to'the station. r andy,<jaught the maii train, which - arrived at Exeter at three o'clock -in the morning. He was met at the station by the tutor and a solicitor of Exiriouth who had sentlithe "spy" after the y.pung gent..; The party, which/then consisted of .the guardian, tutor, spy, coachman,. and two, auxiliaries in the shaper : of policemen, repaired to the hotel, and. on- spying over the boots, the guardian identified. •a' pair belonging to the runaway;! >A guard was placed at the, door, of, the bedroom, audits occupant was informed; that thernarriage^must not take place. To -prevent his flight another mani wasi placed in frontjof therhotelr'snd another at the rear. Intelligence. -.was then conveyed to the expectant bride that the marriage was postponed sine die. The ; dismay of the parties most interested may well be imagined, but the. young gentleman j who, by the bye, is said to ba heir to a title, vowed that he would not change] and that as s]oon;;aa-he;was bis own master he, would carry out hiamatrimonial design: At all events "'he accompaniedliis guardian to Birmingham,* and i;he fair damsel a£d her, motfier^ returned both in their" respecnye bomescto,latt>enti that the course of truf lore noYW did run imootk>''