THE CUBA REVIEW. 



La Concordia bridge over the Yumuri River, Matanzas, connecting the old and the new parts 

 of the city. 



El puente de La Concordia sobre el rio Yumuri en Matanzas. 



Havana's 



Paving 



Material. 



So soon as Havana's 

 new sewer system is in- 

 stalled it is planned to 

 pave the streets in modern 

 style. J. M. Babe, the chief 

 engineer of the bureau of highways and 

 bridges in the department of public 

 works, was the Cuban delegate to the 

 International Highway Congress, held 

 in Paris in 1908. His report, which he 

 has recently submitted to the President, 

 has an important bearing on the ques- 

 tion of paving of the streets of Havana. 

 Sr. Babe recommends that Havana be 

 paved for the most part with wood; 

 that the small, narrow streets running 

 north and south, where there is little 

 or no sun, be paved with asphalt; that 

 the suburbs be paved with brick; and 

 that special drives, such as the Malecon, 

 be paved with tar macadam, a sub- 

 stance which has proved very durable 

 and satisfactory in London and New 

 York. 



Granite blocks, such as Havana's 

 streets are paved with at present, are 

 going out of use. 



ber he wishes to call. He then pushes 

 a button which rings a bell and calls 

 the party desired. When the receiver is 

 returned to the hook the connection is 

 discontinued. 



On April 3, and by Presidential de- 

 cree, the Cuban government rented the 

 public telephone service for eighteen 

 years to this company. On August 16 

 this decree was attacked in the Supreme 

 Court in the name of a citizen, who con- 

 siders the Cuban treasury damaged to 

 the extent of $11,000 a year by the trans- 

 action. 



Against 

 Adultera- 

 tions. 



The Havana Telephone 

 Automatic Company, operating the 

 Telephones old "Red Telephone" ser- 

 Proniised. vice of 3,700 'phones, will 

 soon install a Chicago au- 

 tomatic system of 25,000 telephones at a 

 cost of $2,000,000. 



No operator or "central" is required 

 by the automatic system. The person 

 desiring to talk turns a dial attached 

 to his 'phone until it registers the num- 



Cuban health officials will 

 make war upon imported 

 adulterated foods, claiming 

 that goods shipped to Cuba 

 would in many instances be 

 denied a sale in the United States. Cuba 

 has a pure food law sufficiently drastic to 

 cope with infractions. The Bromato- 

 logical Bureau, provided for in the sani- 

 tary regulations, but which heretofore 

 has existed only in name, is now at work 

 and after analysis products condemned 

 are destroyed. The stores selling sweets 

 and confectionery are now obliged to 

 keep them in glass cases or otherwise 

 screened and protected against dust and 

 indiscriminate handling. 



Regarding medicines and drugs Dr. 

 Tremois, of the Pharmaceutical Bureau, 

 is also preparing a campaign against 

 adulterations. He said recently that bot- 

 tles which originally contained standard 

 preparations have been refilled with poor 

 and cheap substitutes. He purposes to 

 stop these practices. 



