THE CUBA REVIEW 



GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES 



PANAMA LABORERS FOR CUBA 



President Menocal has directed the Cu- 

 ban charge d'affaires at Panama to make 

 every effort to bring the Spanish laborers, 

 many thousands in number, who will be 

 idle when the canal is tinished, to the island 

 republic. 



The Spanish workman on the canal, says 

 the Boston Herald, represents the finest 

 type of laborer employed. He is active and 

 industrious, and belies the general concep- 

 tion of the Spaniard's lack of physique. 

 These men come almost exclusively from 

 the province of Galicia, and are known as 

 "Gallegos." 



The action of President Alenocal is sig- 

 nificant of an intelligent and wide-awake 

 Cuban administration. 



INSTRUCTION MATTERS 



The secretary of sanitation has appointed 

 two surgeon dentists for the dental inspec- 

 tion of all the children in the schools. 



TO BUY SCHOOL DESKS 



The Cuban Department of Public In- 

 struction will soon buy about 6,000 school 

 desks for which bids are being prepared. 

 The school desks have not been renovated 

 since 1899, when the schools in Cuba were 

 placed under government control. 



Congress will shortly be asked to con- 

 struct public school houses throughout the 

 island. 



CUBA S POPULATION 



Official figures from a census taken in 

 June 1912, divides the inhabitants of the 

 island into the following classes : 



"V\' hite Cubans 1,2.35,829 



Black Cubans 334,695 



Cuban mestizos (Half Breeds).. 274,272 

 White foreigners 203,637 



Total 2,048,433 



CUBAN CONSUL AT CHICAGO 



Headfjuarters for the Cuban consulate in 

 Chicago were recently opened. T. P-strada 

 Paima, the new consul, succeeds Crescensia 

 de Varona. 



The Puerto-Principe and Xuevitas Rail- 

 road has been given a six months exten- 

 sion of time to complete a wharf and 

 warehouse in the inlet of Mayanabo, Nue- 

 vitas liay. 



WIDER APPLICATION OF REDUCED 

 RATES 



In accordance with the terms of a decree 

 of the 27th of January, 1908, iron and steel 

 houses, complete and knocked down, with 

 or without parts of glass or crystal or other 

 fireproof material, when imported for use 

 in connection with the manufacture of 

 sugar and brandy, are classed under para- 

 graph {b) of Xo. 215 of the Cuban Cus- 

 toms Tariff and are subject to import duty 

 at the reduced rate of 10 per cent ad 

 ralorern. 



The Cuban Gacefa Oficial for the 13th 

 of August contained a Circular of the Min- 

 istry of Finance providing that the reduced 

 rate of duty quoted may be applied to such 

 houses even when all the parts are not im- 

 ported at the same time, on condition that 

 the interested parties furnish beforehand 

 a drawing of the buildings, showing the 

 separate parts, and that they deposit, with 

 each importation, a sum equal to the dif- 

 ference between the reduced rates and 

 those applicable under the tariff, this de- 

 posit to be returned when the houses are 

 completely erected. 



The special rates on sugar machinery 

 granted to sugar plantations by No. 215 of 

 the Cuban customs tariff were extended to 

 sugar refineries on July 31, 1913. To ob- 

 tain these special rates refiners of sugar 

 are required to observe the same formal- 

 ities as are exacted of planters. 



AS TO FERTILIZERS 



Merchants in Cuba engaged in the sale of 

 raw materials for the manufacture of fer- 

 tilizers must now show and post at their 

 warehouses a certificate of the analysis 

 made of their products sold by them under 

 a penalty of a fine ranging from $25 to $50. 



It appears that there are many alleged 

 fertilizers sold in Cuba which are consid- 

 ered injurious to agriculture. 



President Menocal has signed the decree 

 calling for this regulation. 



A new decree is being discussed to in- 

 clude all the fertilizers and raw materials 

 which are imported and sold throughout 

 the republic. Order 214 of the first inter- 

 vention and those of the decrees distended 

 recently by President Menocal only ."efer 

 to frrtilizers for tobacco. 



Sr. Jose Arcchabala has petitioned the 

 government for permission to construct a 

 wharf on the harbor front of Cardenas. 

 Cardenas is a thriving city on the North 

 Coast. 



