Part IV: Miscellaneous 



LATIN AMERICA. 



MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. 



MEXICO. 



I. — Encouragement of home colonisation. — In the last Report 

 presented to the Union Cngress on the i6th. of September last, the President 

 of the Republic gave account of the work accomplished by the Government 

 in the first six months of 1913 for the encouragement of the progress of 

 agriculture, which is one of the principal sources of the wealth of the 

 country, by promoting home colonisation. 



We shall here summarise the Report. During the period 46,485 hec- 

 tares of national land divided into small holdings were sold and realised 

 for the Treasury an amount of 70,335 pesos. 



The work of marking out and subdividing the national land has been 

 commenced in the States of San Luis de Potosi, Michoacdn, Veracruz, Ta- 

 basco, Chiapas, in the Territory of Lower CaUfornia and in the Federal 

 District, and the co-operation of the local goveriunents has been obtained 

 for the carrying out of the necessary work in order that the land may be 

 utilised by the small farmers. 



The Government has now 9,229 hectares subdivided and ready to be 

 allotted as small holdings. 



At San Juan de los Reyes, in the State of Veracruz, 8,000 hectares 

 have been divided for the establishment of a colony and in the State of 

 Tabasco, 25,000 hectares, suitable precautions being taken in order that 

 the Government may recover possession of the land in case of non-fulfil- 

 ment of contract. 



In future contracts of lease of national land the Government proposes 

 to reduce the area in order that the farm may be more satisfactorily worked 

 and the greatest profit derived from it. 



With regard to reafforestation the report gives the following statistics. 

 The area suited to forest cultivation is approximately 100,000,000 hectares, 

 the wooded region covering 30,000,000 ha. and the proportion of the 

 State Forests being from 10 to 15 %. 



