THE CUBA REVIEW 



The lottery bill went 



Cuba's through only at the last mo- 



Sfate ment, the long delay being 



Lottery. clue to the usual wrangling 



and also the settlement of 

 the question of who should receive the much 

 coveted post of director. Senator Morua 

 Delgado having persistently refused to ac- 

 cept the appointment of General Director 

 of the new National Lottery, President 

 Gomez on July 28 appointed S'enor Gustavo 

 Alonso y Castanedo, a lawyer and journal- 

 ist, to the directorship. 



On the same day the State Department 

 at Washington received from the American 

 Minister at Havana full details. 



Under the law the State is given a mo- 

 nopoly by prohibiting the importation of any 

 other kind of policy tickets and also forbids 

 any private lotteries, raffles or any other 

 smiilar competitions for prizes. 



Seventy per cent, of the receipts must 

 be distributed in prizes. Drawings are to 

 be held four times a year, under the super- 

 vision of a board of seven men. Children 

 from the Foundlings' Home and National 

 Orphan Asylum are to draw the lucky num- 

 bers. Tickets range from 25 cents to $1. 



The Cuban Government expects a net an- 

 nual revenue of $2,000,000 from it. 



Havana brokers report large orders 

 for tickets from the United States and 

 will try and fill them, but it is believed 

 that no large or profitable sale of tickets 

 can be made if the American authorities 

 co-operate to prevent them. 



At the ofifice of the Cuban Consul 

 at New York an immense amount of 

 correspondence is being received in 

 relation to the new lottery scheme 

 of Cuba for raising government funds. 

 The number of inquiries as to how 

 tickets in this lottery may be ob- 

 tained in the United States is rapidly in- 

 creasing as news of the governmental 

 character of the lottery spreads. 



United States postoffice inspectors are 

 carefully watching for evidence of lottery 

 tickets which are expected soon to make 

 their appearance. 



The authorities say that not only is it a 

 violation of the law to send lottery tickets, 

 lottery literature, or the proceeds through 

 the United States mails, but it is contrary 

 to law to send it by express or freight 

 from one State to another, and for one man 

 to carry it on his person from one State to 

 another. 



President Gomez issued an order directing 

 the bureau in charge of the national lottery 

 to reserve at the first drawing ticket No. 

 1,895 for his personal account, the number 

 commemorating the outbreak of the final 

 war of independence. He has purchased 

 this number for all the succeeding draw- 

 ings, a privilege given purchasers under 

 the lottery laws. 



The Reilly concession at 

 Tlie Cienfuegos has developed a 



Cienfuegos very interesting situation, 

 Concession. said the Toronto Mail and 

 Empire on July 24. There 

 are four interests contending o^•er the rail- 

 way concessions, asserting that Judge 

 Reilly's grant had expired because he 

 had not complied with conditions. The 

 Camaguey Company, owning an elec- 

 tric line at Camaguey, had obtained a con- 

 cession for a street railway in Cienfuegos, 

 through Robert Betancourt, who was killed 

 by his brother some weeks ago. The United 

 Railways also have a claim and there is 

 further dispute over the concession for a 

 road from Cienfuegos to Manicaragua 

 which the same paper states had 

 been given first by Sir William Van 

 Home and also to the Cuban Central 

 Railway. The Canadian claimants, it 

 says, have the City Council with them 

 against Judge Reilly, but the latter 

 counts on the support of the Railway- 

 Commission and the Mayor of Cienfuegos, 

 to win. If this should happen the Canadians 

 will take issue through diplomatic channels, 

 when some embarrassing questions may be 

 asked, as the concession granted to the 

 Canadians is said to be legal in every re- 

 spect. 



On August 2 President Gomez declined 

 an invitation to attend the ceremonies at 

 Cienfuegos of the inauguration of _ Judge 

 Reilly's trolley line. He had received a 

 telegram from C. C. Gile, representing the 

 Montreal Engineering Company at Cien- 

 fuegos, urging him not to attend as his 

 company had a claim against Mr. Reilly's 

 concession as outlined alinve. 



An old stone watch tower in the Vedado used 

 in ancient times as a lookout for approaching 

 pirates. 



Una antigua torre de piedra en la parte de 

 la Habana que mira hacia el Golfo, que se usaba 

 en antigiiedad como atalaya para espiar la prox- 

 imidad de los piratas. 



