24 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL MATTERS 



NEW CARS FOR HAVANA 



The first railroad train ever operated by 

 storage batteries equipped with a multiple 

 unit control was run on September 2_.5th 

 from the Pennsylvania Station in New 

 York City to Long Beach over the Long 

 Island Railroad, covering the distance to 

 Long Beach, 25 miles, in 57 minutes. It re- 

 turned in 53 minutes. 



The train consisted of three cars, each 

 equipped with four 200-volt motors and 

 216-celI Edison batteries. The important 

 step in the development of the Edison 

 storage battery is the fact that more than 

 one car is operated by one controller under 

 the multiple unit control, characteristic of 

 the operation of the trains in the tubes, 

 subways and elevated railways of Xew 

 York City. The cars, equipped with double 

 trucks, are built with vestibules, and are 

 35 feet 5 inches long. They are provided 

 with four double seats and four end seats, 

 which will accommodate 42 pasengers. 



The entire cost of the electric current 

 used for the fiftv mile run was estimated 

 at $2.00. 



The development of this system does 

 away with the necessity of having a third 

 rail or a trolley, and the trains should be 

 much cheaper to operate than either steam 

 or the ordinary electric cars. 



Each car is complete within itself, requir- 

 ing nothing outside the power in its own 

 battery cells to propel it. The storage 

 battery system does away with overhead 

 wires and poles, bonding of rails and the 

 entire equipment of a trolley line system, 

 to say nothing of the saving in depreciation 

 charges. 



It will be put into regular service on a 

 branch of the United Railways of Havana 

 running out from the city 100 miles. 



A dividend of one per cent on the pre- 

 ferred stock of the Xipe Bay Company 

 has been declared payable October 15, 1912, 

 at the office of the treasurer, 131 State 

 Street, Boston, Mass., to holders of pre- 

 ferred stock of record at the close of 

 business September 28. 1912. 



$200,000 MISSING 



On October 4th the National Bank of 

 Cuba at Havana received a cable message 

 from the National Park Bank of New 

 York that a package which had contained 

 $200,000, sent to New York on September 

 2Sth by registered mail, had arrived, but 

 the money was missing. 



The package contained twenty $10,000 bills 

 deposited in Havana on September 27th, 

 and forwarded via Florida on the 28th. 

 The Mennheim Company, which insured 

 the money, has complained to the police. 



The mystery was deepened by a dis- 

 covery at Havana on October 7th indicat- 

 ing that the money never reached the post- 

 office in Havana and was probably ab- 

 stracted from the bank in Havana. 



The Royal Bank of Canada, a branch 

 of which is located in Havana, notified 

 the National Bank of Cuba on October 7th 

 that it had in its possession one of the 

 missing ten-thousand-dollar notes, which 

 formed part of a large payment made by 

 the latter to the former bank on October 

 5th. The Royal Bank of Canada also noti- 

 fied the agent of the company, which had 

 insured the loss remittance. 



It has been learned that only one regis- 

 tered package was sent out by the National 

 Bank of Cuba on September 28th, the date 

 on which the missing package was sup- 

 posed to have been mailed. This proved 

 to contain only printed matter. Whether 

 this envelope ever contained money ap- 

 pears to be a most important piece of evi- 

 dence, but the bank officials fear that the 

 envelope was not preserved after being 

 opened in New York. 



In Cuba postal agents carefully went 

 over every step in the progress of the 

 money on the island from the moment it 

 left the institution to the minute it went 

 aboard the ship for New York or Key 

 West. The various receipts have all been 

 examined and found to be correct. 



Every person who had anything to do 

 with the handling of the package itself or 

 the pouch into which it was placed has 

 been examined in Havana. The stens from 

 the post office to the ship have been traced 



New storage battery cars for the United Railways. (See article above.) 



