22 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



RAILROADS, FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL 



SPECIAL REDUCTIONS IN DUTIES 



The Cuban government has granted 

 exemptions from the surtax imposed in 

 1904 for a number of articles for use in 

 the manufacture of pianos, at present 

 dutiable under tariff No. 207. The articles 

 included are specially prepared steel wire 

 for pianos, from No. 12 to No. 22 ; spe- 

 cially prepared copper wires for pianos, 

 from No. 1 to No. 27 ; keys for stretching 

 piano srtings : woods in sheets 1 centimeter 

 thick, specially prepared for certain piano 

 parts : apparatus and accessories, such as 

 hammers, hammer catchers and other small 

 parts and pieces ; maple wood specially 

 prepared for bridges ; piano keys of ivory 

 and wood ; bronzed cast-iron frames for 

 fastening piano strings. Up to the present 

 these articles have been dutiable under the 

 general tariff at 52 per cent ad valorem, 

 and under the United States preferential 

 tariff at 36.4 per cent ad valorem ; with 

 the surtax removed in accordance with the 

 present decree, the rates for the future 

 are 40 per cent ad valorem under the 

 generaly tariff and 28 per cent under the 

 United States preferential tariff. These 

 reduced rates are to be extended only to 

 manufacturers of pianos, who shall submit 

 a sw'orn statement that the goods imported 

 are to be used by them in the manufacture 

 of pianos. 



Special exemption from the surtax im- 

 posed in 1904 is also accorded for labeled 

 tin containers, when imported by those 

 engaged in the butter-making industry, for 

 use as containers of butter. Such con- 

 tainers have been dutiable under tariff 

 No. 56 at $5.20 per 100 kilos, general rate, 

 and at $3.90 per 100 kilos. United States 

 preferential rate. When imported as pre- 

 scribed they will in the future be dutiable 

 at $4 under the general tariff and $3 under 

 the United States preferential. 



A company has been incorporated in 

 Havana with $100,000 capital for the con- 

 struction of a railway, four miles long, 

 from Havana to Cojimar. The building 

 of this railway will necessitate constructing 

 a tunnel under the bay to Casa Blanca. 



The Cuban-American Sugar Company 

 has declared the regular quarterly dividend 

 of 1% per cent on the preferred stock, 

 payable July 1st, to stock of record June 

 loth. 



PLANTATION RAILWAY FOR SERVICE 



[From Our Havana Correspondent] 



Central Caracas, located in the muni- 

 cipal district of Cruces, proposes the first 

 of next year to open to public service its 

 private railroad from the central to the 

 Bay of Cienfuegos. It is proposed to run 

 regular passenger and freight trains and 

 contracts are being made with other sugar 

 centrals for the shorter haul which would 

 result bv using the Caracas lines. The 

 entrance of the Caracas line to Cienfuegos 

 is on the side of the bay opposite to the 

 city, but it is proposed to put on a ferry 

 boat service so as to be able to transport 

 passengers direct to Cienfuegos. The sugar 

 centrals which would be greatly benefited 

 by the shorter haul would be Andreita, San 

 Augustin, Portugalete, Dos Hermanos, 

 Parque Alto, Santa Catalina and San Fran- 

 cisco. The Caracas central is owned by the 

 Terry family. It was recently reported 

 sold to the Cuban Central Railways, Ltd., 

 for $5,000,000, liut the deal never went 

 beyond the option point. 



The biggest item of Cuba's imports is 

 foodstuffs, says the Saturday Evening Post 

 of Philadelphia. It takes more than all 

 the exports of tobacco, or nearly two- 

 fifths of the exports of sugar, to pay for 

 the meat, fish, cereals, vegetables, oil, 

 beverages and other edibles that Cuba 

 buys abroad. Undoutedly a considerable 

 part of these imports of food may be 

 classed as articles of luxury. They are 

 for those whose tastes have not conformed 

 to native dishes. From the point of view 

 of national economics, spending nearly a 

 third of one's exports to set the table of a 

 relatively small numl)er of well-to-do 

 citizens looks rather extravagant. Inci- 

 dentally it suggests the prominence of non- 

 native elements. 



Pneumatic tires are going in large 

 quantities to Cuba, according to President 

 Seiberling of the Goodyear Tire Co. 



CUBA SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH 



The meeting of the Cuba Submarine 

 Telegraph Company (Limited) was held 

 in London in May. Mr. George Keith, 

 who presided, said that the result of the 

 half-year's business gave a profit balance 

 of /1 2.900. out of which £2,000 had been 

 added to reserve against loss of invest- 

 ments and £2,000 carried to the general 

 reserve. The directors recommended the 

 payment of the usual dividend at the rate 

 of 6 per cent per annum on the Ordinary 

 shares, and the increase of the balance 

 carried forward by £361 to £7,655. Their 

 cables were now duplicated from end to 

 end.^ — London Standard. 



