THE CUBA REVIEW. 



19 



RICH FIELD FOR MODERN WAGONS IN CUBA. 



There is a great demand for modern 

 vehicles in Cuba, says a special corre- 

 spondent in Cuba of The Implement and 

 Vehicle News. The authorities in charge 

 of the cities and towns are constructing 

 new kinds of vehicle regulations, with 

 the result that there are several types 

 of the old-fashioned carts that cannot 

 be used on public streets, because of the 

 cumbersome character of the vehicles 

 and their awkward and weighty appear- 

 ance. Many of the old patterns of vehi- 

 cles have enormous wheels and there are 

 objections to the use of these great 

 wheels on many of the thoroughfares. 



Practically all of the native-made wag- 

 ons are built too large and heavy for 

 the native horses. The little animals 

 have a great struggle handling the cum- 

 bersome wagons of Cuban manufacture. 



The Cuban smith is inclined to design 

 and construct the wheels considerably 

 larger in diameter than the wheels of 

 wagons in other lands. The tendency 

 is to produce a wheel of enormous cir- 

 cumference, supposing that the greater 

 the leverage thus attained the easier the 

 cart can be hauled by the beast of bur- 

 den. But the native workers forget that 

 there is a limit to this argument. They 



Some of the uses of the two-wheeled cart in Cuba. 



In fact, there are rules against passing 

 through certain streets, except in one di- 

 rection, because they are too narrow to 

 permit the large wagons passing by one 

 another. There are city and town regu- 

 lations prohibiting the operating of the 

 great creaking wagons with their illy lu- 

 bricated wheels, except at certain hours. 

 Therefore, in order to avoid conflicting 

 with the ordinances of the cities and 

 towns of Cuba, many persons are con- 

 stantly on the alert for buying new vehi- 

 cles, light in weight, rubber tired, and 

 fitted with all modern improvements. 



go too far with the big-wheel idea, re- 

 sulting in some wagons being exceed- 

 ingly difficult for the animals to handle. 



Furthermore, the average native cart 

 is almost always of the two-wheel pat- 

 tern. It is seldom that the Cuban wheel- 

 wrights build a four-wheel vehicle, al- 

 though there is a very active demand for 

 four-wheeled express wagons. 



In recent years there have been a 

 number of automobiles introduced, some 

 of which are adapted for the carrying of 

 heavy freight. The bulk of the express 

 and freight service is, however, handled 



