THE CUBA REVIEW 



On May 18th the barracks 



The of the Rural Guards at Pi- 



Pinar del Rio nar del Rio were blown up. 



Explosion The buildings in which 

 were quartered the Rurales, 

 public works employees and officers' fami- 

 lies, were completely destroyed, and many 

 buildings in the vicinity were wrecked. 



The disaster is declared to be due to the 

 carelessness of a carpenter in repairing de- 

 fective cases of dynamite, which were be- 

 ing loaded on a wagon for transport to the 

 railway station. The carpenter was in the 

 act of nailing the lid on a broken case 

 when the dynamite exploded, detonating 

 the rest of the dynamite on the wagon and 

 instantly killing all in the courtyard and 

 blowing down the wall of an adjacent 

 storeroom, in which the remainder of the 

 dynamite was deposited. This caused a 

 second explosion, completing the destruc- 

 tion of the building. 



There were, according to various re- 

 ports, from five to seven tons of explosives 

 stored in the cuartel, including dynamite, 

 rack-a-rock, black powder and fulminating 

 caps (detonators). 



Many of the newspapers of Havana, in- 

 cluding El Mundo, El Comercio, La Luclia, 

 Cuba, Diario de la Marina and Union 

 Espanola, severely censured the authorities 

 for the reckless storing and keeping for 

 two months in a building inhabited by so 

 many persons, including women and chil- 

 dren, and open to the visits of the public, 

 of such huge quantities of deadly explo- 

 sives. 



The government wireless station was 

 completely destroyed. The casualties 

 amounted to 44 dead and 105 wounded. 



On May 21st, a message of condolence 

 over the disaster, from U. S. Secretary of 

 State Knox, was delivered by U. S. Min- 

 ister Jackson to the Cuban State Depart- 

 ment. 



A sister of Mr. Charles Wells, the 

 American engineer killed in this dynamite 

 explosion, has presented a demand for 

 $80,000 for his death. 



Relatives of the Belgian engineer, M. 

 Julio Liager, and Miss Gomis's father also 

 intend filing demands. Seiior Gomis is 

 acting Spanish Consul at Pinar del Rio. 



Appropriations intended to help the vic- 

 tims of the Pinar del Rio explosion and to 

 rebuild the destroyed edifice were voted 

 May 2.3d by the Cuban House. The sum 

 of $75,000 has been assigned for the new 

 building and $25,000 for the victims or 

 their heirs. 



The following expenses for 



Diplomatic and the diplomatic and consular 



Consular corps were approved May 



Expenses 12th, by the House : For 



the State Department, $90,- 



460 ; Germany (this does not include the 



item of salary), $13,800; Argentine Re- 



public, $9,000; Belgium, $16,200; Brazil, 

 $7,800; Chili, $7,800; China, $5,800; United 

 States, $64,200; Spain, $48,200; France, 

 $32,000; England, $30,000. 



The Cuban ministers to the last four 

 countries receive $5,000 each, with an ex- 

 pense allowance of $8,000 for the represen- 

 tative in the United States, and $3,000 each 

 for the other countries. 



On June 8th, President 

 Amnesty Gomez signed the bill 

 Act amending the amnesty act 



Amended of 1909, through which a 

 large number of offenders, 

 including many public officials, sentenced to 

 prison for less than eight years or trial, 

 are released. Among those benefiting by 

 the amnesty is Lincoln de Zayas, under in- 

 dictment on charges growing out of his 

 conduct in office as Acting Secretary of 

 Public Instruction since the period of 

 American intervention. 



According to a senate bill 

 Salaries approved by the House 

 Instead of June 2d, provincial coun- 

 Fces cilmen will hereafter re- 



ceive salaries, instead of al- 

 lowances and traveling expenses. 



President Gomez recommended the 

 changes because under the old law many 

 scandals arose. Before there was any 

 provincial regulation, councilmen received 

 $200 per year. This was changed to a fee 

 of $10 for every session, but limited to 

 ten sessions per month. Under this ar- 

 rangement it was found some members 

 were receiving $500 per month in traveling 

 expenses. The presidential message soon 

 followed, and the compensation is fixed at 

 $150 per month for councilmen of Havana, 

 Orienti and Santa Clara, and $100 for 

 those in the other provinces. 



Speaker Ferrara was badly 

 Speaker defeated in Congress re- 

 Ferrara cently when the majority 

 Defeated jammed through the am- 

 nesty law and went on to 

 raise their salaries $1,200. He is seriously 

 thinking of resigning, both from the 

 speakership and from congress, although 

 his term expires next December. 



He has been the leader of the liberals 

 in the house from the day he was elected 

 to the chair, the highest public office he 

 could fill in Cuba because of his Italian 

 birth. The law bars him from any place 

 higher. It is asserted that the President 

 will even go as far to veto both measures 

 in order to retain Sr. Ferrara in congress. 

 General belief was however at fault in 

 the case of the amnesty bill which the 

 President signed June 7th. Speaker Ferrara 

 at that date had not sent in his resignation. 



