MAURITIUS

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 802, 15 April 1871, Page 3

MAURITIUS

(From the " Sydney Morning Herald ") The Government •' Gazette " of the 4th instant contained a statement of the co'onial revenue and expenditure for the year 1870. The aggregates were as follows: Revenue £593,759 Expenditure ... ... 446,546 £147,213 The surplus appears very handsome; but unfortunately our Treasurer has a knack of excluding from his accounts every year certain claims which are shortly afterwards made on the Government for disbursements on account of the olony, in the United Kingdom. When these have been adjusted it is probable that at least £IOO,OOO out of the surplus will have disappeared ; but under any circumstances our finances are in a healthy state. In 1869 the real excess of the colonial revenue amounted to £IO,OOO. A census of our population is about to be taken, under the direction of the Hon. H. N. D. Beyts. The island is populated by something over 300,000 souls.

A dvices from Natal and the Cape, up to about the 15th ultimo, have reached this. At Natal people were becoming more sanguine again about the Tat in gold fields. The yield per ton of the quartz was said to exceed that of most of the Australian mines. Some Australian diggers, who have recently arrived at Natal from the Tatin, and who intend returning, have refused to give any informption regarding their explorations, which has given rise to the belief that they are in possession of some valuable information.

Diamond finding still goes on unabated beyond the frontier of the colony. Natal has been deserted by the greater portion of its able male population, and servants and even clerks are becoming scarce in all the other towns in the colony.