THE CUBA REVIEW 



11 



MINOR NOTES. 



The Cuban Government was officially no- 

 tified on November 24 by the French 

 charge d'affaires of the appointment of M. 

 Southart a Minister Plenipotentiary and 

 Minister Extraordinary to Cuba. M. 

 Southart was formerly minister at Bo- 

 gota. 



For the purpose of organizing a Cuban 

 Federation of Labor, a number of working- 

 men met Nov. 22 in Havana and agreed 

 to distribute printed copies of the plan pro- 

 posed for the consideration of the working 

 masses in general. Definite resolutions will 

 be adopted later. 



Dr. Manuel Secades, consulting attorney 

 for the Cuban Department of the Interior, 

 denies the President's authority to reduce 

 his salary, and the case is now under con- 

 sideration by the Supreme Court. Dr. 

 Secades contends thct as the law fixed his 

 salary the amount cannot be reduced under 

 the constitution. 



Charges have been preferred before the 

 Cuban Supreme Court against the present 

 Secretary of Public Works, Sr. Joaquin 

 Chalons, that he still belongs to the corps 

 of engineers of the Spanish army and re- 

 ceives pensions from the Spanish govern- 

 ment as the holder of several crosses. 



Dr. Martin Duque, recently Secretary of 

 Sanitation and Charities, is now the head 

 of Havana's Health and Charities Bureau, 

 having been appointed by Mayor Julio de 

 Cardenas. The office is a new creation. 



Orders placed by the Cuban Government 

 with Schneider & Company, of France, for 

 six field guns, three light and three heavier 

 pieces to be used to equip the new artillery 

 forces are expected to arrive shortly. 



President Gomez on November 17 ap- 

 pointed Alfredo Zayas, Jr., a son of the 

 Vice-President, to be Chancellor of the 

 Cuban Consulate General at New York. 



An auto boat race from Philadelphia to 

 Havana is talked of for the coming season. 

 It is believed five or more boats will take 

 part. 



The German Consul at Santiago de Cuba, 

 William I. Shuman, a banker, and the citj^'s 

 oldest foreign resident, died November 6 

 of apoplexy. 



A night school is asked for the working- 

 men of Camaguey. It is believed favor- 

 able action will be taken. 



Miss Aurora Mena, superintendent of 

 general calisthenic in the schools of Cuba, 

 urges that physical training be a part of 

 the school system. Miss Mena says that 

 fully 20 per cent, of the children attending 

 public schools are suffering from tubercu- 

 losis in some form. Medical gymnastics, 

 she contends, will cure special diseases due 

 to this malady. 



Law students of the University of Ha- 

 vana belonging to Senor Ferrara's class re- 

 fused to attend his lecture this morning 

 until he retracted his statement that Senor 

 Palma, the first President, did not deserve 

 to have the national flag half-masted on the 

 anniversary of his death. Senor Ferrara 

 promptly apologized and the students re- 

 turned to their studies. 



Stephen D. Field, a nephew of Cyrus 

 West Field, who laid the first Atlantic 

 cable, has perfected an instrument by the 

 use of which four messages can be sent 

 over a single cable simultaneously. 



The device is now being used successfully 

 on the cable between Key West, Fla., and 

 Havana, Cuba, and proved serviceable dur- 

 ing the recent severe October storm. 



A shipment of sixty-eight boxes contain- 

 ing 17,000,000 stamps of the series Cll, 

 from the American Bank Note Company, 

 will be used on match boxes and will cover 

 850,000,000 match heads. 



George W. Garnisso, of Taunton, Mass., 

 goes to Havana, Cuba, to lead the Y. M. 

 C. A. athletics there. He will also teach 

 bible classes. 



The dredge is back at Nuevitas, and the 

 report is that it will at once resume work 

 on the Sabinal Canal. It is expected that 

 the channel will be cut through by spring. 



A new organ has been erected at the 

 Roman Catholic Cathedral in Pinar del Rio. 

 The organ is made of Cuban wood and is 

 the work of a Santiago de Cuba organ- 

 maker. 



The provincial council of Oriente has 

 decided to provide Santiago with a munic- 

 ipal home. A resolution was passed Nov. 

 20 voting an appropriation ol $60,000 for 

 the purpose. 



