THE CUBA R E V I E W 



15 



Bills have been introduced in the Cuban 

 Senate providing for the appropriation of 

 the following sums : $5,000 for a highway 

 from Artemisa to the cemetery of that 

 town ; $8,000 to buy a fire engine for the 

 town of Camajuani; $9,000 for a fire engine 

 for the town of Banes, which a few weeks 

 ago lost several blocks from fire, and $5,000 

 for the building of an addition to the school 

 at Santa Clara. 



A new hardware firm, in which two 

 Americans and two Spaniards are inter- 

 ested, has been organized in Havana with 

 a capital of $100,000. Those forming the 

 company are : Charles H. Thrall. Ralph 

 Kingsbury, Felipe Gonzalez and Antonio 

 Cantolla. 



All of the senators and representatives 

 of Oriente have reached an agreement to 

 push through the legislature, as quicklv as 

 possible, the $2,000,000 which are required 

 for the building of the aqueduct of the city 

 of Santiago. 



The Cuban Congress has passed a law 

 appropriating $30,000 for building a bridge 

 over the Hondo River between Consolacion 

 del Sur and Puerta del Golpe. 



The provincial council of Havana has 

 offered a number of premiums to encour- 

 age the growing of alfalfa ifi Cuba, and 

 also of hay prepared from grasses now- 

 growing in Cuba. Experiments in growing 

 alfalfa in Cuba have not up to the present 

 met with much success. There seems to 

 be some element lacking in the soil which 

 growers have not yet been able to supply. 

 Experiments have been going on at the 

 agricultural experimental station for years, 

 and agriculturists are confident that sooner 

 or later the efforts will meet with success. 



The plan of the Havana city council- 

 men to make a $28,000,000 loan has not 

 been lost sight of, despite the veto put 

 on the project by General Asbert, governor 

 of the province of Havana. The latest 

 excuse for making the loan and one which, 

 if carried out, would certainly necessitate 

 it. is a plan of the city architect to enlarge 

 several of Havana's principal business 

 streets. 



A new industry which is to be established 

 in Cuba is that of manufacturing metal 

 boxes and the lithographing of metals. 

 The company organized to start this busi- 

 ness has been incorporated under the name 

 of Sociedad Industrial de Cuba. Spanish 

 and Cuban capital is back of the enter- 

 prise. 



A house bill taxes theatre tickets one cent 

 each, the money to go to a fund for pro- 

 viding asylums for workingmen incapaci- 

 tated for further labor and for the aged. 

 All public shows issuing tickets are in- 

 cluded in the provisions of the bill. 



The recent visit of 100 manufacturers 

 from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Cuba resulted 

 in many of the manufacturers establishing 

 agents in Havana. The manufacturers 

 besides having an extremely pleasant time 

 left satisfied that the visit was of immense 

 advantage to them in a business way. 

 Mayor Cardenas, of the city of Havana, 

 is planning to return the visit to the Chat- 

 tanoogans within a short time. 



The city council of Havana has voted 

 an appropriation of $40,000 to purchase 

 a fireboat for Havana harbor. The occur- 

 rence of a number of costly fires in the 

 harbor during the last few years caused the 

 city council to decide to buy the boat. 



A motion, signed by six aldermen, has 

 been presented to the Havana city council 

 to give an appropriation of $4,000 to be 

 included in the next budget to assist Luis 

 Alayolino in perfecting a perpetual motion 

 motor, which he claims to have invented. 

 Alayolino proposes to harness the motion 

 of the sea, and he has so convinced the 

 Havana city council that he has solved 

 the perpetual motion problem that he seems 

 likely to get the appropriation, which six 

 of the aldermen have proposed. 



Richard Busewell, an American, has been 

 appointed honorary consul of Cuba at Gulf 

 Port, Miss. He takes the place of Joseph 

 N. Cowley. Gulf Port is an important port 

 in the commerce between the United States 

 and Cuba on account of the large amount 

 of lumber shipped from it to the island. 



The Chamber of Commerce and Industry 

 of Havana is distributing throughout Ha- 

 vana Province seed of the Para rubber 

 tree (Hevea Brasiliensis). Instruction on 

 planting and cultivating the tree is given 

 those receiving the seed. Rubber trees of 

 all kinds seem to do well in Cuba. In 

 nearly all parts of the island can be found 

 specimens growing wild. In some parts 

 of Cuba there are a few specimens of the 

 Artocarpace^e rubber tree, which grows 

 three feet in diameter and gives every 

 indication that it would grow as well in 

 Cuba as anywhere else with proper cul- 

 tivation. Experts agree that the Para tree 

 should do as well in Cuba as on its native 

 soil in Brazil, Guiana and Venezuela. It 

 is a tree that grows 60 feet tall, branching 

 from the base, and does best on the hot 

 steaming lowlands along the river courses. 

 Each tree is expected to render three 

 ounces of milk in three days and then must 

 be allowed to rest. 



Two registered packages containing $30,- 

 000 consigned to the Spanish Bank at Ha- 

 vana disappeared from the post-ofiice at 

 Santiago de Cuba on February 9th. 



It is supposed they were stolen by two 

 postal clerks, who embarked on a ship 

 for Jamaica, where they were later cap- 

 tured and the stolen money recovered. 



