Progress in Mashonaland summarised from November 1891 to May 1893.
HEALTH.
The rainy season of 1891 to 1892 found the settlers in Mashonaland well housed and with an abundance of provisions; in consequence, a wonderful improvement was manifested in the health of the community, proving that the insufficiency of food and shelter, necessarily associated with the initial occupation of a wild country so many hundreds of miles from a base of supply, was mainly responsible for the sickness of the rainy season of 1890–1891.
The Senior Medical Officer of the British South Africa Company reported early in 1892 that not a single case of fever had arisen among the inhabitants of Salisbury during the worst part of the wet season; in every case the patient had contracted his fever elsewhere, and there had been no deaths at all from climatic causes in Salisbury or its district. He adds: ‘Good food, good clothing, shelter from inclement weather and the sun, an abundant supply of medicines and invalid necessaries and a milder season have wrought an enormous improvement in the general health of the people, [[406]]and Mashonaland of 1892 is not recognisable as Mashonaland of 1891.’
The general health has been equally good in the rainy season of 1892–3, and the experience of the last two years has shown that perfect health may be enjoyed by anyone who will avoid undue exposure and will observe a few simple precautions.
TOWNSHIPS
Progress in the townships of Salisbury, Victoria, and Umtali has been rapid.
At Salisbury 1,800 stands have been surveyed and mapped out; at Victoria 572 stands, and at Umtali 300. In July 1892 a sale of stands was held at the three places mentioned above, 70 at Salisbury being sold for 2,250l., 150 at Victoria for 6,107l., and 44 at Umtali for 1,396l., the total sum realised being nearly 10,000l. for 264 stands. It is intended to hold another sale in July of this year, where competition no doubt will be keen, as the attention of capitalists in England, as well as those on the spot, is being directed to the matter.