Annual report of the Director, Medical & Health Department / Colony of Mauritius.

  • Mauritius. Medical and Health Department
Date:
[1957]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Director, Medical & Health Department / Colony of Mauritius. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (b) Rainfall.—Amounts were low in January, February and March during which there was, for the island as a whole, a deficit of 10J inches from the normal 34 inches. April was slightly wetter than usual and May and June slightly drier. The winter and autumn months were dry : an average of only 10 inches of rain fell from July to October. In November the fall was only about half the normal. The reservoirs were replenished in December when an excess of about 40 per cent of the normal was recorded. The total rainfall of the year was 80 per cent of the normal. (c) Temperature and Sunshine.—Mauritius has an oceanic climate and variations of temperature from the seasonal normal are usually small. In 1957, February and April were somewhat cooler than usual, and from July to the end of the year, the maximum dry temperatures were general]^ a little higher than normal. In July and August in particular the trade winds were weaker than normal and conditions were much less wintry than could be expected. The duration of bright sunshine was about 4 per cent greater than normal for the whole year. Departure from normal in any one month was not great, except in January and October when the excesses were 25 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. (d) Humidity.—Relative humidity was 1.3 per cent above normal for the whole year, the wettest month being February with mean of 89 per cent above the normal for that month. 5. The population lives mainly on the proceeds of sales of its sugar : the whole economy being at present dependent on this single crop which constitutes some 97 per cent of the domestic exports. The shortage of rain in certain areas during 1957 affected the sugar crop but the effects were in part offset by record crops in other areas, a slight increase in the acreage under cane and a high extraction rate. The 1957 crop is estimated to have produced 561,500 metric tons, a production second only to the 1956 record of 572,512 tons. The most recent plan concerned with the development of the Colony's resources has taken into account an appreciable extensicn of the tea industry and this project, when completed, should naturally strengthen the economy of the island. The bulk of the food required continues to be imported as Mauritius produces, apart from vegetables and fruits, insignificant quantities of rice, maize, potatoes and other root crops. 6* In relation to its resources, Mauritius is overpopulated. The density of population in the towns and in some villages is very large and matches that of some of the most densely populated regions of the world. The population, which is now well over three times what it was a century ago, has increased from 405,020 in 1939 to 596,600 in 1957.
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