262 



CUBA. 



budgets of all municipalities, $412,500. In 

 August, 1883, the " Gaceta Oficial " of Ha- 

 vana contained the following details of a dis- 

 patch from the Minister of the Colonies, Mad- 

 rid, to the Captain-General of Cuba: 



All country property now pays 2 per cent., with- 

 out distinction. The reduction last year was granted 

 only to those cultivating sugar and tobacco. The 

 sur-tax on export duties is reduced from 10 per cent, 

 to 5 per cent, from July 1st. The duties on tobacco 

 exported from the Central and Oriental Departments 

 have been reduced 30 per cent. The additional tax 

 on all drinkables has been abolished and in place ol 

 it has been imposed a tax of 2 cents per litre for 

 casks and 3 cents per litre for bottles and jars. The 

 municipality has been authorized to raise 50 per cent, 

 on this tax. 



This latter tax in reality substituted a 22 

 per cent, tax for what was 15 per cent, before. 



The budget for 1881-'82 estimated the ex- 

 penditures at $34,635,843. 



The previous year had left a deficit of $20,- 

 000,000. The year before had left a surplus 

 of $3,367,950. " 



The budget estimate for the fiscal year 1882- 

 '83 stood : income, $34,442,979 ; outlay, $34,- 

 626,910. 



Paper money (bank bills) is destroyed at 

 stated periods, in moderate amounts ($200,000 

 on Aug. 31, 1883), in accordance with the law 

 of amortization of July 7, 1882. 



According to the new budget law, the ad- 

 ministration-general of the Treasury of the isl- 

 and of Cuba has been changed into a general 

 intend an cy at Havana, with six sub-intend- 

 ancies at Havana, Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, 

 Santa Clara, Puerto Principe, and Santiago 

 de Cuba. 



According to a statement published at Ha- 

 vana in August, 1883, the royal lottery pro- 

 duced, during the last fiscal year, net profits 

 amounting to $5,302,519, against $5,295,679 

 during the previous year. In 1882-'83 the 

 administration drew with the unsold tickets, 

 $948,100, against $1,910,400 in the preceding 

 year. In the five lotteries drawn since July 

 1, 1881, there remained unsold 139 tk-kets on 

 July 1, 1832, which was equivalent to a loss 

 of $548,280 to the treasury. 



On Nov. 14, 1883, the Cuban treasury, on 

 authorization from the home Government, se- 

 cured from the Spanish Bank of Cuba a loan 

 of $500,000 for six months, at the rate of 7i 

 per cent, interest per annum. 



Havana Gas Companies. At a meeting of share- 

 holders of the two gas companies of Havana, 

 on Aug. 31, 1883, the proposition made by 

 Setter Dorilla on behalf of several New York 

 capitalists, to lease the works of the two com- 

 panies for a term of twenty years, was ac- 

 cepted, the shareholders of the "Espafiola" to 

 receive 5 per cent, net yearly. 



Emancipation. On Nov. 15, 1883, the " Ga- 

 ceta Ofici&l," of Havana, published a royal 

 decree ordering that all doubts concerning 

 the application of any part of the law of 

 gradual abolition of slavery shall always be 



resolved in the sense of the widest latitude for 

 the liberty of the slave; and that, therefore, 

 owners of slaves, when the latter have ac- 

 quired their freedom, shall not compel them 

 to pay indemnities for their children. The 

 decree argues that the law orders that under 

 no consideration shall the families of slaves be 

 separated; and that if parents were obliged, 

 when freed, to pay for the rescue of their 

 children, other sections of the law providing 

 for gradual abolition would be violated. 



News was received from Havana in Novem- 

 ber, 1883, that the new Captain-General en- 

 deavors to carry out the recommendations of 

 the Liberal party in Cuba to do justice to the 

 30,000 slaves illegally held in bondage since 

 1870. He was also taking active steps to ease 

 the situation of the Cuban treasury, consoli- 

 date the floating debt, and carry out fiscal re- 

 forms. 



Immigration. Quite a movement was set on 

 foot by Sefior Isabal, on the occasion of the 

 meeting of the Geographical Congress, at Mad- 

 rid, during the latter part of 1883, to promote 

 white emigration from Europe and the Canary 

 Islands to Cuba; and this movement has uiet 

 with a hearty response from Santiago de 

 Cuba, where planters, merchants, and manu- 

 facturers met on Oct. 8, 1883, and took the 

 necessary measures toward co-operating with 

 their Peninsular colleagues. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. In 1880 there were 

 in operation 871 miles of railway. The length 

 of telegraphs in operation was 2,835 miles, and 

 the number of offices 187. 



Political and Economical Statns. The surrender 

 at Lanjon, Feb. 10, 1878, terminated the insur- 

 rection on the island after a ten-years' war, 

 during which, according to the estimate of 

 Captain- General Don Joaquin Jovellar, 200,000 

 combatants perished by the sword and disease, 

 and the cost to Spain and Cuba was $700,000,- 

 000. The strife ruined entire provinces ; those 

 of Santiago de Cuba and Puerto Principe, even 

 in 1883, still presented a painful spectacle of 

 impoverishment and desolation. In August, 

 1879, afresh rising took place, and was quelled 

 less by the Government forces than by public 

 opinion and the firm and resolute attitude of 

 the Liberal Autonomist party. The basis on 

 which the capitulation of Lanjon had been 

 agreed to, embraced the following conditions : 

 The island of Cuba is granted an organic 

 political and administrative regime equal to 

 the one which rules the island of Porto Rico ; 

 complete amnesty and liberation of all slaves 

 and Asiatic colonists who fought in the ranks 

 of insurrection ; Cuba to be permanently rep- 

 resented in the Cortes by her own deputies 

 duly elected, and thus to recover the privilege 

 of which she had been deprived in 1836. This 

 revival of political life caused the formation of 

 the now existing parties in Cuba. In August, 

 1878, the so-called Liberal party was organ- 

 ized, most of whose members are Creoles. Its 

 programme is the immediate, sweeping aboli- 



