THE 

 CUBA REVIEW 



"ALL ABOUT CUBA." 



Copyright, 1908, by the Munson Steamship Line. 



LIBRARY 



NEW YORK 



BOTANICAL 



OaRDEN. 



Volume VIL 



JUNE, 1909. 



NUMBER 7. 



GOVERNMENT MATTERS. 



The Cuban Treasury Exhausted— Consular Changes— Supreme Court Appointments 



— Sagua Improvements, Etc. 



Senor Diaz dc Villegas, 

 The Secretary of Finance, de- 

 Cuban clared May 7 that the treas- 

 Treasury. ury was exhausted, there 

 having been only $300,000 

 in cash on hand at the end of last month, 

 most of which will be required to pay 

 the police and meet a few sundry emer- 

 gencies, but according to his calcula- 

 tion the revenue will amount to $26,- 

 000,000 this year, adding $2,000,000 from 

 the lottery, if that is established, and 

 $1,000,000 from the various municipal- 

 ities. He thinks some taxes may be cut 

 down and others more rightly increased, 

 but considers it unnecessary to impose 

 new taxes, remarking that industry, agri- 

 culture and commerce show encouraging 

 prospects. The coming fiscal year's bud- 

 get is estimated at $29,000,000, an increase 

 of $5,000,000 over the previous year. 

 Three millions are for the permanent 

 army, recently organized, one million is 

 to care for the first installment of the 

 public debt, due in April next, and one 

 million goes to the departments of Jus- 

 tice and Sanitation. 





c^3 



The national lottery bill 

 The Lottery was passed by the House 

 Bill Passed. Way 12, 53 to 20, those 

 voting for the measure be- 

 longing to all political parties. The first 

 eight articles of the bill were discussed, 

 and the remainder will be taken up at 

 the next session. 



The general terms of the project, from 

 which the government expects to draw 

 an annual revenue of from $1,000,000 to 

 $2,000,000, call for three drawings month- 

 ly. The number of tickets and the 



amount of prizes are to be left to the 

 discretion of the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury. 



Announcement was made 

 Supreme May 20 that the three 



Court vacancies existing in the 



Appointments, bench of the Supreme 

 Court would be filled by 

 the appoinments of Au- 

 relio Hevia, Joaquin Demestre and Juan 

 Gutierrez Quiros. 



The retirement of justices now seventy 

 years old and in future those above 

 sixty is in contemplation. 



Arturo Hevia was sub-secretary of 

 justice during the Palma administration. 

 Juan Gutierrez Quiros is now fiscal of 

 the criminal branch of the Audiencia of 

 Havana, and Joaquin Demestre is at 

 present a judge. The two latter have 

 not been identified with politics, but 

 Hevia was General Menocal's campaign 

 manager for President of Cuba. 



Consular 

 Changes. 



President Gomez has 

 sent to Congress a mes- 

 sage recommending the 

 appointments of ministers 

 at Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. 

 The appointment of a minister to Nor- 

 way is also recommended. 



The fact that Congress has not been 

 consulted in these matters has excited 

 surprise. The present budget does not 

 contain any appropriations for these 

 posts, nor is there a law authorizing 

 them, but the Department of State main- 

 tains that the President can go ahead 

 and make the nominations and leave the 

 question of authorizing the new legations 



