THE CUBA REVIEW 



21 



NEWS NOTES OF GENERAL INTEREST 



CUBAN LAWS DEFICIENT 



The Mazorra Asylum near Havana is 

 absolutely inadequate for its purpose and 

 altogether insufficient to house so large a 

 number of the insane as are given admis- 

 sion to the institution as shown by pro- 

 ceedings which are pending in the courts, 

 says La Luclia. The number of persons 

 who lose their minds is increasing to an 

 alarming extent, and something should be 

 done which will improve both the asylum 

 and its system of treatment. 



To submit the insane to some sort of 

 work under a proper systematic and scien- 

 tific method, is the base of good treatment, 

 while good food, proper housing and good 

 healthy conditions and surroundings, 

 usually give most excellent results if a 

 proper separation is obtained and measures 

 of hygiene are followed. 



It is no secret for anyone that our laws 

 affecting the treatment and handling of the 

 insane is absolutely deficient. There is 

 nothing concrete or imperative in legisla- 

 tion that has been enacted in this matter. 

 The penal code which is the only text that 

 regulates the matter in its own way allows 

 the judges and magistrates a wide latitude 

 in interpreting the opinion of- the insanity 

 experts and the pleas of the members of 

 the legal profession. 



HOTEL AND BEACH 



It is said that Cuban and American cap- 

 italists have formed a corporation with a 

 capital of $8,ono,nno to convert Marianao 

 playa, the delightful beach within a few 

 minutes' train ride of Havana, into a para- 

 dise for tourists, with a modern and luxu- 

 riously appointed 300 room hotel to crown 

 it. 



The nlaya can be reached by the Havana 

 Central Railroad running to the new ter- 

 minal station and to Concha station, which 

 will this winter inaugurate its new Carlos 

 III. avenue tunnel, permitting its battery 

 storage cars to reach Galiano Street, thus 

 placing visitors to the golf course of the 

 Country Club and the playa right in the 

 centre of the citv. 



REDUCTION OF DUTY ON GAS 

 MACHINERY 



A presidential decree, dated September 

 25, 1913, makes a reduction of 25 per cent 

 of the rate established by the tariflf for 

 the machinery and apparatus embraced in 

 No. 226, when such articles are imported 

 by gas plants for use in the manufacture 

 of gas. This reduction makes the new 



rate 16 per cent ad valorem on gas ma- 

 chinery imported from the United States 

 and 20 per cent ad valorem on that im- 

 ported from other countries. 



KANSAS CITY S EXPORTS 



The exports of Kansas City to Cuban 

 cities for the year 1912 as compiled by L. 

 O. Booram in charge of the Cuban Con- 

 sulate, consisted mainly of meat and flour 

 with some furniture. The figures with the 

 various Cuban ports to which the first two 

 products were consigned are as follows: 



Meat Flour 



$714.55 



614.21 



5,217.50 



1,119.19 $1,727.50 



9,666.57 26,109.00 



Alto Cedro 



Antilla 



Banes 



Camaguey 



Caibarien 



Cardenas 30,943.25 



Chaparra 258.75 2,535.00 



Cienfuegos 43,939.68 489.00 



Felton 285.75 2,535.00 



Gibara 3,844.92 16,016.30 



Guantanamo 10,744.60 240.00 



Havana 694,023.15 35,230.70 



Manzanillo 37,540.43 4,330.00 



Matanzas 94,581.92 



Mayari 804.15 1,185.00 



Nuevitas 1,390.38 1,540.00 



Puerto Padre 4,825.00 505.00 



Sagua la Grande.. 4,918.93 



Santiago 174,624.73 34,680.55 



Total $1,120,057.66 $127,123.05 



NEW SUGAR CENTRAL 



Under the name of the "Rosa Maria" a 

 new central will shortly be built in the 

 neighborhood of Yaguajay, 2Vj leagues 

 from Mayajigua, Santa Clara Province. It 

 will be ready to grind the crop of 1914-15. 

 Patricio Suarez Cordores is directing the 

 work of construction. The clearing work 

 is well under way and a railroad 36 in. 

 guage will be built to the coast. 



The Cuban Telephone Company is ex- 

 tending its long distance in Oriente Prov- 

 ince to include the towns of Mayari, Sagua 

 de Tanamo and Baracoa, which will in turn 

 be connected with the rest of Cuba. 



The will of Samuel Jarvis disposed of 

 more than $2,000,000, which was left en- 

 tirely to the widow and members of the 

 family. Mrs. Edmund G. Vaughan, a 

 daughter, received $425,000. 



