14 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



GENERAL NOTES 



CHILDREN LEARN SPANISH QUICKLY 



From Rodas, Cuba, 'Mr. A. B. Storms 

 writes as follows : 



"I am the only English-speaking person 

 in a village of about three hundred. Last 

 year my two younger children, aged five 

 and seven, came to visit me. They did 

 not know a dozen words of Spanish ; but 

 in five months, when they were playing 

 outside with Cuban children, I could not 

 tell whether my children were talking or 

 some of the Cuban children. This with no 

 training at all except to be corrected 

 when the}' made mistakes in grammar. 

 They talked Spanish when playing alone 

 by themselves, and the little girl talked 

 Spanish to her dolls." 



CUBA SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH 



At the meeting of the Cuba Submarine 

 Telegraph Company (Limited) recently, 

 the report was made that they had ex- 

 ceptionally good results for the half-year 

 under review, which was generally the 

 slack of the season of the year. Cuba 

 suffered every year from storms, and this 

 increased the use of their cables, par- 

 ticularly along the south coast of the 

 island. Their cable house at Batabano 

 was entirely wrecked and the land line 

 connection with Havana was interrupted, 

 but the loss of traffic was more than made 

 up by the large increase after the commu- 

 nication had been restored. 



A contract had been entered into for 

 the laying of the new cable to Cape Cross, 

 where it would join the present cable to 

 Santiago, thus completing the direct com- 

 munication between Havana and Santiago. 

 The length of the cable would be 300 

 miles, and the cost £40,000, which would 

 come out of the reserve fund. 



KITE TARGETS AT GUANTANAMO 



"Some of the ships of the United States 

 fleet in their recent target practice off 

 Guantanamo completed a series of tests 

 with kites. Not the old-fashioned kites 

 which were boj'ish playthings, but kites 

 capable of carrying men if necessary. 

 They were flown from the decks of the 

 ships and were fired at by squads of men 

 detailed. It was proven that a special bat- 

 tery of small guns will be necessary to 

 ward off an attack by aerial craft. The 

 battery ordinarily used to repel torpedo 

 boats could not be elevated sufficiently 

 to come anywhere near hitting the kites. 

 However, in firing with small arms" the 

 new Springfield rifle being used, the kites 

 were completely riddled by bullets proving 



that an aviator has no chance when hov- 

 ering over a fleet within rifle range. 



"The largest kite flown was twelve feet 

 in length and the smallest five feet. At 

 a distance of 800 yards and an elevation 

 of 500 feet more than two-thirds of the 

 shots fired took eft'ect. An entirely new 

 system of signalling has also been devised 

 by which with the aid of kites long dis- 

 tance work ma}' be accomplished in time 

 of battle between ships a great distance 

 apart." — C. L. Miles in the Montpelier 

 (Vt.) Journal. 



AMERICAN CERTIFICATES IN QUESTION 



For the purpose of comparing the quali- 

 fications of Florida pharmacists with Cu- 

 ban druggists. Dr. Jose Alacan, member 

 of the faculty of the University of Ha- 

 vana, recently spent some time in Tampa, 

 Palatka, Jacksonville and other Florida 

 cities. 



To avoid trouble arising from the dif- 

 ference of certificates granted the drug- 

 gists in Florida and those given in Cuba, 

 Dr. Alacan will make a full report of the 

 result of his inquiries to the Cuban gov- 

 ernment which will decide whether cer- 

 tificates of the Americans will be honored 

 in Havana or in other Cuban cities. 



CUBAN PROPERTY TAX 



Official government information de- 

 clares that: "The taxes on city property 

 are equivalent to about 9.36 per cent of its 

 earning capacity, the assessments being 

 made on the renting value. Taxes on rural 

 property are approximately 6..50 per cent 

 of the renting value, or income, but no 

 taxes are levied upon wild land. The rate 

 of taxation ranges from six to ten mills, 

 and is assessed quarterly, the tax levy, if 

 unpaid, becoming a preferred lien against 

 the property." 



The American yacht "Virginia," belong- 

 ing to Commodore E. C. Benedict of New 

 York, went ashore on Colorado Reefs, five 

 miles northeast of Jutias Cay Light, on 

 the north coast of Pinar del Rio, May 

 28th. 



On June 8th the yacht was still hard and 

 fast on the reefs, on which she had struck, 

 it is understood, at high water, which ac- 

 counts for the difficulty in getting her off. 

 An unsuccessful effort was made on the 

 above date to float the vessel with the aid 

 of a steamer. 



Indications, however, are said to be un- 

 favorable, as the "X'irginia," apparently, is 

 hard held, but on June 12th a last effort 

 s:t the vacht free. 



