THE CUBA REVIEW 



29 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 



$50,000,000 SUGAR COMPANY PLANNED 



Details are now being worked out by 

 bankers and business men of New York 

 and Havana for uniting several of the largest 

 sugar plantations in Cuba in a corporation 

 the ultimate capitaUzation of which may be 

 as large as $50,000,000. The men interested 

 in the deal already have options on sugar 

 lands in Cuba which are conservatively valued 

 at $35,000,000. J. & W. Sehgman & Co. is 

 the New York banking house which is most 

 interested in the proposed combination, and 

 Manuel Rionda, president of the Czarnikow- 

 Rionda Company, also is interested. 



The sugar plantations are situated in the 

 Santa Clara and Matanzas districts of Cuba, 

 which are among the richest of the sugar 

 growing sections of the island. One of the 

 properties which the backers of the scheme 

 are anxious to obtaia is the Conchital planta- 

 tion. This was formerly owned by Pedro 

 Berro, who sold it to a Cuban by the name of 

 Lopez. The stock of this plantation is said 

 to be listed on the Amsterdam Stock Ex- 

 change, where it has a broad market. 



Another property sought is that of the 

 Cuba Company. This concern owns and 

 operates railroads and electric lines in Cuba, 

 as well as 300,000 acres of land. In addition 

 to this, it owns various town lots. It also 

 owns a sugar mill with a capacity of 250,000 

 bags. 



The Cuba Company is capitalized at 

 $16,000,000, of which one-haK is 7 per cent, 

 cumulative preferred stock and the re- 

 mainder common stock. The late Sir 

 William Van Home of Montreal was president 

 of the concern. George H. Whigham of 

 New York is vice-president. The negotia- 

 tions for the properties in Cuba are being 

 actively conducted by R. Truifin, Russian 

 Consul-General at Havana. 

 . It is generally believed in Wall Street that 

 the men behind the $50,000,000 sugar planta- 

 tion merger see large profits for those con- 

 nected with the deal. Sugar planters have 

 made tremendous profits since the outbreak 

 of the war, owing to the great demand for 

 sugar by the Allies. Austria and Germanj^, 

 two of the greatest beet sugar producing 

 coimtries in Europe, shortly after war was 

 declared, put an embargo on sugar and the 



other European countries which formerly 

 purchased their sugar from the Teutonic 

 Alhes, have been forced to come here for their 

 sugar. The price of sugar has advanced by 

 leaps and bounds. 



Since the war broke out the market for 

 sugar futures in this city has been revived 

 and there has been active trading in sugar 

 futures on the Coffee Exchange. — N. Y.Times. 



CENTRAL MERCED ITA 



The Mercedita Sugar Company at Cabanas, 

 Pinar del Rio, is expected to commence grind- 

 ing about January 5, 1916. The outturn esti- 

 mated for the 1916 crop is 130,000 bags. 



OCTAVIO E. DAVIS 



Mr. Octavio E. Davis, organizer of the 

 Stewart Sugar Company, died in New York 

 December 4th. Mr. Davis was a native of 

 Matanzas, Cuba, and was educated in the 

 United States. Upon completion of his edu- 

 cation, he entered upon his career as a sugar 

 manufacturer and he achieved great promi- 

 nence in the industr3^ He was an expert on 

 sugar tariffs and was particularly well in- 

 formed tn regard to the economic conditions 

 affecting the sugar industry. He was secre- 

 tary of the Cuban tariff commission which 

 was sent to the United States in 1902. 



N. Y. CHARTER 



Sugar Products Shipping Company, trans- 

 portation, navigation, $125,000; Albert Mul- 

 lavin, George Lambert, Phineas Lewinson, 

 no address; C. Duhkin, attorney, 5 Beekman 



St. 



