276 



CUBA. 



with 6 men and one four-horse-power en- 

 gine ; one naphtha well in the Santa Clara 

 district, producing 34 hectolitres ; three iron- 

 ore beds in Santiago de Cuba, producing 23,- 

 877 tons, employing 270 hands and engines of 

 eighty-six horse-power; three copper-mines in 

 Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba, yielding 

 67 tons of cement copper and employing 27 

 hands. The import of mining machinery and 

 supplies, which as such are free of import 

 duty, 'amounted in value to $170,639. The 

 largest amount of machinery imported was 

 by the Juragua Iron Company, for its new 

 mines and railroad near Santiago. The stock- 

 holders of this company are the Bethlehem 

 Iron Company, the Pennsylvania Steel Com- 

 pany, and the Cambria Iron Company. The 

 iron-ores average about as follow : Metallic 

 iron, 66 per cent.; sulphur, 0'07 per cent.; 

 phosphorus, 0'041 per cent.; silica, 2'03 per 

 cent. The highest' phosphorus determinations 

 only show 0*083 per cent. This company has 

 built a railroad 27 kilometres long, entirely ot 

 American material. The large iron pier at the 

 terminus of the road is also the result of 

 American enterprise. The ore is transported 

 to Philadelphia, the quantity reaching 15,000 

 tons a month. The company employed 600 

 men in 1886. 



Bat-Craano. Large quantities of bat-guano 

 have been discovered on the south coast of the 

 island. This guano is deposited in caves, one 

 of which was estimated to contain from 25,000 

 to 30,000 tons. The facilities for working 

 these deposits are said to be excellent. 



American Enterprise. The American consul 

 reported to the State Department in August 

 from Havana : " American capitalists are be- 

 ginning to increase and work up the mahogany 

 and cedar exportation from here. One com- 

 pany in particular tends fair soon to control a 

 most formidable tract of land in the northern 

 part of this province. All our fellow-country- 

 men laud the manner in which the Spanish 

 Government here facilitates their movements 

 by a readiness to help and aid them in every 

 way. This only holds as regards the executive 

 branch of the Government, and does not refer 

 to the custom-house regulations, which tend in 

 every way to discourage importation." 



Emancipation. The number of slaves declared 

 free, in accordance with the abolition law, be- 

 tween May 5, 1885, and May 7, 1886, was 25,- 

 523. The number of slaves who, at the latter 

 date, had obtained their freedom during the 

 six years elapsed since the promulgation of the 

 law, was 120,253. The remaining 25,381 were 

 freed by vote of the Cortes in October, 1886. 



Commerce. According to statistics published 

 by the Minister for the Colonies, the total 

 foreign-trade movement in Cuba during the 

 fiscal year 1884-'85 was $88,224,263, there 

 having been imported $31,587,859 and ex- 

 ported $56,636,404. This movement includes 

 $5,776,849 imported from Spain, and $4,704,- 

 388 exported to that country, the entire trade 



with the mother-country consequently not 

 exceeding $10,481,237. The American trade 

 with Cuba is shown in the following table: 



The Cuban custom-houses collected during 

 the fiscal year 1885-'86 $14,808,192, an in- 

 crease of $1,539,838 compared with the 

 amount of revenue they yielded the previous 

 fiscal year. 



There entered Cuban ports during the fiscal 

 year 1885- I 86, altogether, 3,139 vessels, against 

 3,040 the previous fiscal year. The aggregate 

 tonnage of vessels arived was 2,437,155 in 

 18S5-'86, against 2,315,109 in 1884-'85. 



The American Consul-General at Havana is 

 Kamon O. Williams. 



Reciprocity Treaty. The text of the commer- 

 cial convention between Great Britain and 

 Spain, signed at Madrid on April 26, subse- 

 quently ratified by the British Parliament and 

 the Spanish Cortes, and going into operation 

 in August, provides that Spain grants to the 

 United Kingdom and its colonies and foreign 

 possessions the " most-favored-nation " treat- 

 ment in all that concerns commerce, naviga- 

 tion, and consular rights and privileges in 

 Spain, the Spanish colonies, and foreign pos- 

 sessions, coextensive with that accorded to 

 France and Germany. Article III provides 

 that the convention when approved shall re- 

 main in force until the 30th of June, 1892. The 

 right was reserved to Canada to say within 

 one year whether she will accept the treaty or 

 refuse to abide by its provisions. Meantime 

 Spain and her colonies are open to Canada on 

 the same terms as the most favored nations. 



Discriminating Duties. Under date of June 22, 

 the Spanish Minister for the Colonies, Seftor 

 Gamazo, upon representations made by Minis- 

 ter Curry, addressed to the Captain-General of 

 Cuba a dispatch in which he stated the Amer- 

 ican complaint of infringement of the subsist- 

 ing treaty agreement in the following terms: 



The minister plenipotentiary of the United States 

 of America has complained to the Government of his 

 Majesty respecting the manner in. which the agree- 

 ment of Feb. 13, 1884, is enforced in your island, al- 

 leging that Article I gives the right to the North 

 American flag to be placed on an equality with the 

 Spanish flag in the ports of said island in respect to 

 the collection of duties of all kinds, and consequently 

 he complains that a differential duty is maintained in 

 your island respecting foreign g_oocls transhipped in 

 American ports, as also that navigation dues continue 

 to be exacted from American vessels different from 

 those fixed for Spanish vessels ; and in view of his argu- 

 ments and of other antecdents which aid in a proper 

 interpretation of said agreement, his Majesty the Kinir, 

 and in his name her Majesty the Queen Regent, with 

 the object of demonstrating the good intentions of 

 Spain toward the United States and the good faith with 

 which it seeks to enforce its treaties, has been pleasfed 

 to decree, ratifying the royal order of May 7, 1886, 



