14 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



About the only item of interest in connection with the oil well industry is the fact that the 

 Union Oil Co., recently announced its first dividend of 5%, payment to begin March 15, this 

 being the first of the oil companies to pay dividends. 



The Cuban Government with the cooperation of American authorities have established a 

 postal censorship over all mail matter, as it is known that Cuba has been serving as a sort of 

 clearing station for German interests to get their reports across the Atlantic and the idea is to 

 thereby put a stop to same, as well as to exercise a closer supervision in general of the mails. 



SUGAR MOVEMENT AT NUEVITAS 



During the four weeks from December 29, 



1917, to January 26, 1918, 174,751 bags of 

 sugar arrived from the mills at the port of 

 Nuevitas. Owing to the lack of ships it was 

 possible to export only 79,718 bags, not a 

 pound leaving between January 12 and 26. 

 There remains a difference of 95,033 bags, 

 which, added to the stock on hand December 

 29, 1917, 54,365 bags, makes a total of 149,- 

 398 bags of sugar stored in warehouses await- 

 ing shi^iment at Nuevitas on January 26, 



1918. During this four-week period only 

 four steamers were available in this trade. 

 Between January 26 and the date of this re- 

 port (Feb. 5) two neutral steamers which had 

 discharged coal at Nuevitas cleared for the 

 United States with a total of 32,000 bags of 

 sugar; and while exact figures of the sugar ar- 

 riving during this period are not available, 

 there are now betwen 180,000 and 200,000 

 bags of sugar in Nuevitas warehouses, which 

 represents the entire available storage space 

 here until the additional terminal ware- 

 houses now under construction at Punta 

 Gorda are completed. 



It is exjiected that within the next week 

 several ships will arrive to relieve the con- 

 gestion and last night a former German vessel 

 now owned by the Cuban Government, ar- 

 rived at Nuevitas, having been assigned to 

 load sugar here. Should the movement out 

 of Nuevitas not be rapid and continuous from 

 now on, the mills will be forced to stop send- 

 ing sugar to Nuevitas and either find a less 

 congested port offering the same facilities 

 (which is hardly probable) or temporarily 

 suspend grinding, as their own storage facili- 

 ties are limited also. At this time the loss 

 of the Sanchez warehouses at Nuevitas, the 

 largest in this vicinity, which was burned 

 last February, is seriously felt. 

 Weather Favors (irinding — The Transportation 



Problem . 



The weather has been very favorable for 

 grinding, and the loss of cane by fire has ap- 

 parently been not over what was to be ex- 

 pected. The shortage of coal for railroads on 



the island has not so far especially curtailed 

 the operation of the mills in this section, and 

 it is thought that from now on ships arriving 

 to load sugar will bring sufficient coal to keep 

 traffic moving. The last two steamers ar- 

 riving to take sugar discharged full cargoes of 

 coal at Nuevitas for the Cuba Railroad Co., 

 which serves this section. 



Last November it was estimated that 

 2,000,000 bags of sugar would be exported 

 from the port of Nuevitas during the sugar 

 season beginning in December. So far only 

 a small part of this total has been taken, and 

 the estimate will undoubtedly prove too high 

 imless a continuous and rapid movement 

 of shipping from the port can be secured. 

 Bags of sugar are supposed to contain 325 

 pounds, and therefore 2,000,000 bags mean 

 290,178 long tons. Since the beginning ol the 

 sugar season on December 7, 1917, only seven 

 steamers have loaded sugar at Nuevitas, and 

 as they Avere either quite small or came to 

 Nuevitas partly loaded, but 18,130 tons were 

 exported in them. If only vessels of the same 

 average capacity are available during the re- 

 mainder of the season, it w^ould take 105 

 more of them to move the remainder of the 

 2,000,000-bag estimate, and it hardly seems 

 probable that this number can be found. — 

 Cotisul John S. Calvert, Nuevitas. 



POWDERED MILK 



The laboratories of the National Board of 

 Health of Cuba have approved the importa- 

 tion of powdered milk under the following 

 restiictions and regulations: 



First — The product must not contain less 

 than 25% of fats. 



Second — The sale is to be permitted only 

 in the original packages, proofed against 

 dampness and bearing a label which states 

 clearly in Spanish the amount of boiled water 

 necessary to give a pure milk as well as the 

 latest date at which it can be used. 



TMrd — That the product contains no 

 foreign substance except sugar of milk, cane 

 sugar or a very small percentage of bicar- 

 bonate of soda. 



