THE CUBA REVIEW 



President Gomez has sent 



Liiban to the Cuban Congress a 



C oiisulatc special message requesting 



Business an increase jf $11,920 in 



the appropriation for the 



Cuban consulate general in New York, 



making the entire appropriation for that 



office for the fiscal year $32,420. 



As justifying the increase requested, the 

 president states that the work of the office 

 has developed greatly ; that the consular 

 fees collected during the years 1908, 1909 

 and 1910 amounted to $103,118. $119,376 and 

 $131,924, respectively. From this the presi- 

 dent calculates that the collection during 

 the present year will amount to $170,000 

 and those for the year 1912 to $200,000. 



More 

 Road 

 Work 



The Provincial Council of 

 JNIatanzas at its last meet- 

 ing on December 22d au- 

 thorized the following ex- 

 penditures for road work 

 in the province : 



Two thousand dollars for a cart road 

 from Pedro Betancourt to Claudio, $700 

 for another road from Lacret to the La 

 Palma River, $2,500 for a road between 

 Carlos Rojas and Olimpo, $3,900 for re- 

 pairs to the highway from Maximo Gomez 

 to Altamisae, $3000 for a cart road from 

 Gonzalo to Bolondron. and $2500 for a 

 road from Matanzas to Amarioca. 



On December 12th Presi- 

 Cabinet dent Gomez appointed Chief 

 Changes Engineer of the Bureau of 

 Roads and Bridges, Jose ]M. 

 Babe, to be secretary of the Department of 

 Public Works, to succeed Sr. Joaquin Cha- 

 lons, who resigned his office as secretary in 

 the president's Cabinet because of the 

 veteran question. 



The new secretary is but 36 years old, 

 and a native of Havana. He graduated as 

 bachelor of arts and sciences from Belen 

 College of that city. Previously he^ had 

 graduated at Troy University, N. Y., as 

 civil engineer. He is a Liberal in politics. 

 but is not active in party work. 



Secretary of the Treasury Martinez- 

 Ortiz, resigned his office on December 30th. 

 He gave as his reason dissatisfaction with 

 the present trend of affairs and the impos- 

 sibility of continuing to serve the ad- 

 ministration under existing conditions. 



This is the third Cabinet position va- 

 cated in response to the agitation of the 

 Veterans' Association. Senor Chalons re- 

 signed as Secretary of Public Works in 

 November, and Senor Barraque handed his 

 resignation as Secretary of Justice to Presi- 

 dent Gomez on December 2Sth. 



Judge Juan I\L Menocal, of the Audien- 

 cia. of Havana, was immediately appointed 



to succeed Senor Barraque. He is a promi- 

 nent member in the Veterans' Association 

 Councils and a wcll-kncwn lawyer. 



Colonel Manuel Maria Coronado, of La 

 Disciisio)i, and Colonel Lopez Leiva are 

 mentioned as new cabinet members. 



The National Convention of 

 Political the Conservative Party has 

 Talk been called for January 18th 



to nominate candidates for 

 president and vice-president of Cuba. The 

 narty is well organized without the dissen- 

 sions and differences which have rent apart 

 the Liberals. It can therefore immediately 

 begin an active campaign as soon as its 

 standard bearers are chosen. The delegates, 

 of which there are twelve from each prov- 

 ince, will, it is believed, be instructed to 

 vote for General Menocal for president. 



General Demetrio Castillo Duanny, the 

 warden of the state prison, may be the 

 Liberal candidate for the presidency of 

 Cuba, his friends believing he can unite 

 the factions of the Liberal Party. 



Although the followers of Dr. Zayas have 

 declared that they will not accept a com- 

 promise candidate, many politicians believe 

 they will do so rather than see the Con- 

 servatives unite on one man and the 

 Liberals compelled to go to the polls with 

 their forces divided. 



Regarding the chances of Zayas for ob- 

 taining the nomination, these look slim 

 according to the view of La LitcJia, which 

 says in a recent editorial : 



"In not one of the six provinces are to 

 be found persons representing the most 

 limited majority who even speak of him 

 as a presidential possibility, and in those 

 places where he imagines he has some 

 followers are the very places where he 

 \ ould, b}^ continuing his candidacy, serve 

 to better aid his enemies." 



Haytians and Jamaicans 

 Illegal have been secretly entering 

 Entry the province of Oriente in 

 large numbers for a year 

 past, thereby breaking the immigration laws 

 and the sanitary regulations and endanger- 

 ing the health of the island, is the report 

 of Governor Rafael Manduley of the 

 province. He believed they were being 

 brought by small sailing vessels and disem- 

 barked at convenient landing places. 



Cuban revenue cutters have been in- 

 structed for months to keep a sharp look- 

 out for such vessels, but up to the present 

 time only two unimportant captures have 

 been made. 



The men work at the sugar mills, offer- 

 ing their services at very low wages, and 

 competing to the latter's disadvantage with 

 the Cuban laborer. 



