THE CUBA REVIEW 



Government irrigation plans 

 Vast may include the whole is- 



Irrigation land, and not Pinar del Rio 

 Plans Province alone. It was the 



unfortunate conditions in 

 this province, due to the damage inflicted 

 by lengthy droughts, which first forced gov- 

 ernment attention to the necessity for ex- 

 tensive irrigation projects, and these, as al- 

 ready stated, may include all other parts 

 of the island. A bill introduced in the 

 senate April 7th involves the expenditure 

 of many millions, obtained through assess- 

 ment of properties. 



According to article 6 of the bill these 

 assessments are to be divided as follows : 



"The time arriving when the fields can be 

 supplied with water, the company shall im- 

 pose during the years of the concession a 

 fee of seventy-five dollars annually per ca- 

 balleria of land planted in cane, one hun- 

 dred and seventj'-five dollars annually per 

 caballeria of tobacco lands, forty dollars per 

 caballeria of land planted in cacao or cof- 

 fee, fifteen dollars annually per caballeria 

 of land devoted to other crops or pasturage, 

 the companies or individuals colonizing un- 

 cultivated lands, whether public or private, 

 for whatever branch of agriculture having 

 the irrigation free of fee for one year ; for 

 two years in the case of introducing a crop 

 new to the country, and for eight years in 

 the case of individuals or companies own- 

 ing barren lands who shall devote them to 

 reforestation with trees useful for building. 



The national debt, known 



National as the revolution bonds, is 



Debt now reduced to $732,000 



Reduced from the original amount of 



$2,196,585, and outstanding 



ones are to be taken up and settled. 



The interior debt is being reduced, and 

 the president recommends that congress 

 should allow a larger appropriation than 

 $50,000 yearly towards the payment of the 

 principal. The interest on the $35,000,000 

 loan is being paid regularly, and already 

 $1,020,000 has been paid on the principal. 

 This makes a total reduction of the na- 

 tional debt of $3,007,337. — President's Mes- 

 sage. 



It is understood that the 

 The work of spanning Havana 



Havana harbor with a great bridge 

 Bridge will begin almost imme- 

 diately, President Gomez 

 having on April 7th signed a decree giving 

 possession to Arturo Dworzart, the Belgian 

 engineer, who is head of the company, the 

 land (one kilometer square) in Casa Blanca 

 for the site of the model town to be built 

 up at that end of the bridge. The company 

 under the concession must also erect the 

 town hall and school buildings and con- 

 struct the public p.ark. 



The need of horses for the 



Many rural guard is emphasized 



Horses with the statement that 



Needed there are sixteen hundred 



members of the corps with- 

 out mounts, and that of the thirty-five hun- 

 dred horses in service only two thousand 

 are serviceable, they having been recently 

 purchased, while the rest were bought away 

 back in 1904 and 1905 and are worn out. 

 It is recommended that two thousand new 

 horses be bought, and the congress is ad- 

 monished that experience has taught that 

 it does not pay to buy cheap horses. The 

 price which needs to be paid to procure 

 satisfactory horses is placed at $200 for 

 foreign horses and $150 for native. 



General Carlos Garcia Ve- 

 Opposed lez, formerly Cuban minis- 

 to ter at Washington, in an in- 



Reclection terview given the editor of 

 El Cubano Libre of San- 

 tiago de Cuba, made the statement that he 

 was opposed to reelection and that "even if 

 President Gomez was the perfect type of 

 an ideal ruler, I would still, as a matter 

 of conviction and principle, oppose re- 

 election." 



He said further : "I aspire more as a 

 Cuban than as a politician to a better gov- 

 ernment for my country, so you see my 

 opposition to reelection does not arise froni 

 any egoistic motive. Moreover it is a fact 

 that reelection would inevitably bring revo- 

 lution." — La Lucha. 



Sugar mill in Mexico. 

 4sucarera Tenanao. Estado de Morelos, Me.viro^ 



