IG 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



WATER SCARCE IN ORIENTE 



The question of a water supply in 

 Oriente Province for many of the promi- 

 nent cities and towns is assuming alarm- 

 ing proportions. There is real distress in 

 the chief city, Santiago, and in Gibara, La 

 Maya, San Luis, Manzanillo and Guanta- 

 namo. In La Maya the insufficiency of 

 water is coupled with the fact that the 

 small quantity obtainable produces sick- 

 ness among the consumers. 



In San Luis the tapping of the San Ra- 

 fael River or the Rio Grande is under 

 consideration. 



In Manzanillo, on the south coast, an 

 aqueduct is under construction, and this 

 when completed, as the contractors ex- 

 pect this to be very soon, will relieve the 

 necessities of this section. 



Twenty-one wells dug in the San Juan 

 valley give a yield to Santiago of over 

 1,000',000 gallons daily. By digging four- 

 teen more wells it is expected to double 

 this supply. 



THE CANAL CONTRACT SIGNED 



The Roque Canal in Matanzas Province 

 will be built by Champion and Pascual, 

 prominent Havana merchants. The cost 

 of the improvement maj^ exceed $1,500,000. 

 Work will begin at once and must be com- 

 pleted in two and a half years. 



The proposed canal is to be 52 kilome- 

 ters in length and from 95 to 210 feet in 

 width. Its purpose is to relieve about 

 57,000 acres of sugar and fruit lands from 

 being flooded each year during the rainy 

 season, which causes the streams to over- 

 flow the lowlands, inflicting heavy losses 

 to the planters and interrupting the traffic 

 over the trunk line of the United Rail- 

 ways to Santo Domingo. There is no river 

 to lead the waters to Cardenas Bay di- 

 rect, hence the canal. Subsidiary drain- 

 age channels will be formed by improving 

 and deepening the Cochino and Bermejo 

 rivers. The plan of Aniceto G. Menocal, 

 of the United States navy, who made a 

 thorough examination of the territory in 

 1907, will be followed. 



Congress has already approved the nec- 

 essary funds for this improvement. 



The Havana Gas and Electric Company 

 on April 20th presented a petition to 

 President Gomez urging a reduction in 

 the present duty on crude petroleum used 

 in the manufacture of gas. The company 

 hopes the president will send a special 

 message to congress on the subject. 



An ice plant is under construction at 

 Banes, Oriente Province, and an electric 

 plant for light and power will likewise be 

 installed. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH PROGRESSING 



Of the three archdeaconaries of Cuba, 

 Havana, Santa Clara, and the Oriente, the 

 latter seems to be making the greatest 

 progress in the way of rural immigration. 

 Large numbers of English-speaking peo- 

 ple, Americans, English and Canadians, 

 are arriving daily, who need and greatly 

 appreciate the ministrations of the Church. 

 Archdeacon Ackley, who lives at Santiago 

 de Cuba, has under his direction some 

 eleven congregations, of which eight are 

 new stations at which work has begun 

 during the present year. 



Paso Estancia is a colony of about 

 forty Canadian fruit growers, many of 

 whom are Church of England people ; but 

 the services are attended by Baptists, 

 Methodists. Roman Catholics and Rus- 

 sion Orthodox members. In the absence 

 of the archdeacon, lay services are held 

 every Sunday. The fruit company has 

 donated land for a church site, and 

 twenty-four men, giving their labor, in one 

 day cleared off the tropical jungle, so that 

 work may be begun on the chapel at once. 

 The company also gave $125 towards the 

 building, and the people have raised a'^out 

 $200, lacking only $250 for its completion. 

 At present the services are being held in 

 the open :.ir, but on the arrival of the 

 wet season, which is now at hand, a chapel 

 will be necessary. 



At Bayata there are about 200 Amer- 

 icans and Swedes. There is a Sunday 

 school every Sunday with an attendance 

 of thirty, and there are monthly services 

 with an attendance of about forty. At 

 Banes are many English people and white 

 Jamaicans ; a separate service is held for 

 the officers of the company, and another 

 for the Jamaican negroes, at which latter 

 the attendance is about 100. By the cour- 

 tesy of the "Friends" we have the use of 

 their chapel. At Preston there is a 

 "company church," and the company also 

 makes a conti^ibution towards the main- 

 tenance of the services. Banes and 

 Preston are the two larp^e sugar mills of 

 the United Fruit Company, with the usual 

 English-speaking population, and also 

 many Jamaicans, white and negro, most 

 of whom are members of the Church of 

 England. 



Felton is an American colony, with, 

 however, many Jamaicans. There is no 

 Roman Catholic church there. This is 

 the site of the p-reat iron mine, one of 

 the largest in the world, and a resident 

 clergyman would have his hands full in 

 ministering to the needs of the people. 

 At Antilla also there are manv Jamaicans 

 and Anglo-Saxons. The services are held 

 in the hotel, with large congregations. — 

 Lii'ing Church. 



