20 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



RAILROAD AND COMMERCIAL NEWS 



NEW RAILROAD EXTENSIONS TO BE BUILT — NORTH AND SOUTH COAST 



PORTS BENEFITED 



Trinitkul Railway Leased 



President Gomez signed August 27th a 

 decree leasing to a Franco-Cuban corpora- 

 tion represented by former Secretary of 

 Public Works Jose R. \'illalon, tlic old 

 Trinidad-Placetas railroad which had hcon 

 leased to M. Hugo Loubiere and which 

 lease was annulled by the government be- 

 cause of his failure to improve it. By a 

 citntract which was signed on the same 

 date the lessees are granted the benefits of 

 the railroad subsidy act for the construction 

 of the extension of the line from Placetas 

 to Fernandez. 



The Trinidad-Placetas railroad, when ex- 

 tended from its present terminal at Pla- 

 cetas to Fernandez, will join the lines of 

 the Cuba company. The new company is 

 obligated to begin work before December 

 24th and have it linished within eighteen 

 months. Under the subsidy law the com- 

 pany will receive $6,000 for each kilometer 

 constructed, and must improve tlie old line, 

 providing a proper equipment and all mate- 

 rial. 



The lease is for a term of seventy-five 

 vears. 



Railroad Extension Opened 



On .August 16th, the first train to run 

 over the new extension of the Marti- 

 Bayamo-San Luis line of the Cuba com- 

 pany, arrived at Jiguani. Oriente Province, 

 over the newly constructed track and the 

 occasion was made one of jubilation. The 

 extension cf the line now places this town 

 in direct communication with Havana. 



This branch will soon be connected with 

 the main line at San Luis, wdien direct 

 communication with Santiago de Cuba will 

 be secured. 



Three Months' Trade 



The shipments of merchandise from 

 Cuba to the United States for the three 

 months ended June 30. 1009, are as follows : 



Through Habana : Sugar. $4,428,047 : to- 

 bacco, $2,931,07.3 ; cigars and cigarettes, 

 $948,55.') : pineapples, $77.3,648 : molasses, 

 $342,.^56 : hides, hoofs, and horns, $109,083 ; 

 copper ore, $67,756 ; scrap and old metal, 

 $53.788 ; mahogany lumber and piles, $43.- 

 437 : sponges. $37".2SO : vegetables, $22,660 ; 

 yellow wax, $21,123 ; asphaltum, cedar 

 boards, cocoanut oil, drugs, provisions, 

 liquors, etc., $49,302; total $9,828,308. 



Xcw Extension to Puerto I'adre 



Another line whicli will receive the sub- 

 sidy benefits of $6,000 per kilometer, con- 

 structed under the act of July 5, 1906, is 

 the Compania del Ferro Carril de \'ictoria 

 de las Tunas y Puerto Padre. 



The extension will give Victoria dc las 

 Tunas an opening to the north coast to 

 Puerte Padre. The road will also build a 

 . along the sliore of the later place, 

 an electric plant for the town proper and 

 an aqueduct. 



American Bicycles 



The rise and fall of the American bi- 



cj-cle trade with Cuba in the last 13 years 



is well illustrated in the following official 



figures of the trade in the fiscal years : 



1897 1900 1910 



$4,016 $150,723 $26,948 



Havana's Custom House Collections 



-August, 1910 $1,414,351.17 



August, 1909 1,.') 16,254.53 



August, 1908 1,292,894.44 



The total customs revenues for August 

 of the entire island was recently given out 

 by the Treasury Department. 



The figures are as follows: 



1909 $2,041,114.02 



1910 $1,938,702.60 



a decrease for 1910 of $102,411.42. 



In 1909 Cuba imported 800,000 sacks of 

 flour from the United States, or one sack 

 to every three of its population. 



James Pennie. captain of artillery in the 

 Cuban revolutionary army, and later chief 

 of the bureau or archives of the Cuban 

 Republic, has been appointed Cuban Con- 

 sul at Los Angeles, California, by Pres- 

 ident Gomez. 



In recognition of his war services he was 

 recently granted a pension by the Cuban 

 Government. 



In the fiscal year ended Alarch 31, 1909, 

 Canada exported 3,110 barrels of apples to 

 Cuba — IL S. Consul's report. 



A starch factory and a new henequen 

 plant is talked of for Xuevitas, Camaguey 

 Province. 



