THE CUB A R E \M I". W 



HAVANA S OLDEST A:MERICAN DEAD 



^^'illiam H. Redding, the oldest Amer- 

 ican resident in Cuba and a multi-mil- 

 lionaire real estate holder in Havana, died 

 suddenly in his apartments in the Hotel 

 Inglaterra, Havana, on Dec. 29th. He was 

 born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1S41, and emi- 

 grated in his boyhood to the United States. 



Eifty-seven years ago the late Archbishop 

 Hughes of New York came to Havana on 

 a diocesan visit. He brought with him 

 William Redding, who was a poor boy of 

 ten. The boy remained there and in time 

 became the richest and foremost American 

 in Cuba. 



Mr. Redding was intimate with the 

 Terrys, the Cuban bankers, and was re- 

 markable for his benefactions to the Cath- 

 olic Church, which were so generous, that 

 Pope Pius made him a Knight of the Or- 

 der of St. Gregory and later on raised 

 him to the dignity of a papal count. He 

 was in New York in November, when he 

 dined with Father Nicholas Murray, the 

 Right Rev. William Jones, Bishop of 

 Puerto Rico, and his cousin, John F. W. 

 Meagher, M. D., of New York. He was 

 then suffering from arterio-sclerosis. Mr. 

 Redding was also an intimate friend of 

 Governor Magoon and of President Taft, 

 and participated with them in the sale of 

 friar lands in the Philippines, he being the 

 official representative of the Roman Pontiff. 

 President Gomez, the late General Garcia, 

 General Meural and \'ice-President Zayas 

 were Mr. Redding's intimate associates. 



He was buried on January 6th in Cal- 

 varv Cemeterv, Brooklvn, N. Y. 



CHESS MATCH IN DOUBT 



Capablanca, the Cuban chess champion, 

 completed the draft of his reply to the 

 conditions made by Dr. Emanuel Lasker 

 for a world's championship chess match, 

 and forwarded it on December 20th to his 

 opponent. 



Capablanca declines to play at the rate 

 of twelve moves an hour, which he de- 

 clares to be unprecedented. The short play 

 sessions of two and a half hours each also 

 are objectionable to him. He urges that 

 the winner of the match shall be the one 

 who scores the majority of points, whereas 

 Dr. Lasker stipulates that the match should 

 be drawn in case the score stood at 1 to 0, 

 2 to 1 or 3 to 2. With regard to the 

 financial end of the contest, Capablanca 

 wishes to share equally with Dr. Lasker 

 all the proceeds, or he will consent to an 

 arrangement whereby the winner takes all 

 — title, stakes and income. 



Capablanca concedes Dr. Lasker the 

 right to determine the beginning of the 

 match and the locality of play, but insists 

 ui)on at least four weeks' notice. 



WORK IN CUBA S PORTS 



The Bowers Southern Dredging Com- 

 pany of Galveston, Texas, has secured a 

 number of contracts for the improvement 

 of harbors in Cuba. R. P. Clarke, presi- 

 dent of the company, has returned from 

 the island, and announced that the com- 

 pany is ready to inaugurate work at once. 



The contracts represent a minimum of 

 over $3,000,000, and the work will extend 

 over a period of six years. With the ex- 

 ception of one contract, which is with the 

 Cuban government, all are with the Ports 

 Company, which holds large harbor con- 

 cessions on the island. 



The contracts cover improvements in the 

 following ports: Isabella de Sagua and 

 Caibarien, in the province of Santa Clara ; 

 Xuevitas, in the province of Camaguey ; 

 Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba, in the 

 province of Oriente ; Cienfuegos, in the 

 province of Santa Clara, and Havana. 



The Isabella de Sagua contract is with 

 the Cuban government. This contract, as 

 well as all the others, with the exception 

 of that of Havana harbor, is for dredging. 

 The Havana harbor contract is for the re- 

 moval of rock. 



Work was started December 15th on the 

 Isabella de Sagua contract. Within a short 

 time work will begin on the Havana con- 

 tract, and other contracts. 



Capablanca welcomed by relatives and friends 



upon his arrival at Havana. — Bohemia of Havana. 



LI egad a dc Capablaiira 



Havana's custom house collections for 

 December compare as follows. 



1911 $l.r523,514 



1910 ],.J97,255 



1909 1,.:.06,085 



190S 1.409.794 



1907 1,658.207 



For the year the city's collections were : 



1911 $19,509,130 



1910 17,734,290 



1909 17.646.778 



1908 16,820,802 



1907 19,328,046 



190(; 17.897,672 



