PUERTO RICO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10752, 13 May 1898, Page 3

PUERTO RICO.

Cuba has been called Spain's "Pearl of the Antilles." Puerto Rico is her "diamond." Only 38 miles 6teaming from St. Thomas, the strategic value of Puerto Eico is apparent. Moreover, Cuba and Puerto Rico have always been striving for the same result—independence—but by different means. So-called autonomy has been thrown to Puerto Eico just as to Cuba many times as a sop to abate insurrections. The native population, while scorning and rising again and again in revolt, has not possessed the same courage and stamina as the Cuban insurgents. Yet their hatred of Spanish misrule would prove very advantageous to any attacking force from America, and as the island is far from invulnerable, Puerto Rico should soon fall into the hands of the United States. While the normal force of Spanish soldiery stationed there is only a few thousand, during the last three- years the mother country has felt compelled to send fully 40,000 regulars and conscripts there in order to retain possession of the island. Hosts of these have died— some from fevers, many from the machetes and bullets of the native guerillas. The fortifications are old, and the guns of ancient type. The present Spanish Governor of Puerto Rico, General Gonzalez Munez, while not so bitterly hated as General Marin, who was relieved last December on account of his utter inability to reconcile the r parties on th'o island to autonomy, is far from popular, and could count on little native support. Marin was a 6econd Wcyler, and his regime embittered and solidified the insular population. To-day the Cuban revolutionary party is pledged not to accept independence from Spain unless Puerto Rico is recognised at the same time. Puerto Kico, the "Borinquen" of the Aranak Indians, ranks in size only as fourth of the Great Antilles, but it takes first placo for density of population and general prosperity. Including its dependencies, the isles of Virques, Culebra, and Mona, it lias 3530 square miles and a population of about 1,000,000. It is, therefore, one of 'the most thickly settled portions of the globe in proportion to its size. Of the inhabitants, more than half are white, a much larger proportion than exists in any other of the West Indies. _ In outline Puerto Eico is an almost geometrical parallelogram, , nearly three times longer than it is broad, with its four sides facing the four cardinal points of the compass. The northern and southern sides are indented like the edge of a saw, and the coast lands on the south-west are strewn with swampy tracts. In general elevation Puerto Eico is far inferior to the other Great Antilles. Its uplandsare disposed in masses and ridges, culminating at Yunque (the Anvil), De Luquillo, so named from the town Luquillo, at its foot. It rises to a height of 3680 ft in the north-eastern part, where the crests ramify between the 40 or mo& river valleys, and. where the climate is comparatively cool and salubrious. Indeed, Puerto Rico is far more healthy than Cuba, Jamaica, or Hayti.. Its death rate is low, its temperature varying from 40 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Columbus discovered Puerto Rico in 1493. Ponce de Leon founded the town of Caporra, now San Juan, in 1510. Drake sacked it in 1595. The- Duke of Cumberland followed his countryman's suit in 1598, and laid it waste again after a three days' siege. In 1820 the Puerto Eicans made a valiant effort to throw off tho yoke of Castilian tyranny and oppression, but unsuccessfully. The effort was renewed several times since tho beginning of the present struggle for Cuban independence. up to 1873 slavery was in vogue there, but the march of civilisation even in that tiny corner of the globo was too imperious for Spain to longer countenance that form of chattelship. Archaeologists have found great interest in the ancient ornaments and arms turned up by the plough in' Puerto Sico. These relics leom to indicate the early existence there of a rice tho same as the Haytians, and attest tho p.-ogress and culture of a people to all the world almost unknown. Objects very similar have also been picked up in the Mexican territories of Huaxlees and Totonees. Tliese aborigines rapidly disappeared after the Spanish conquest. They were'replaced by the Mack race on the plantations. Colonisation was at first retarded by hurricanes, a Carib invasion, and other disasters, which led to the temporary abandonment of the island; but during the last 100 years progress has been remarkably steady, being interrupted only by an outburst of cholera in 1855. The population has doubled itsolf on an average every third year—a rate almost as rapid as that of tile French Canadians. This expansion has been due partly to the fertility of the soil and ease of maintaining a livelihood, and partly to large immigration from Spanish America. ' The fact that the' European races have increased more rapidly than the African in a climato more favourable to the latter is considered remarkable. It also appears from the last census figures obtainable that among the whites the males exceed the females—tho contrary being invariably the case everywhere in Europe. For administration purposes Puerto Rico has been regarded not as a colony but as a Spanish province. The Governor-General, representing the monarchy, is at the same time Captain-General of the armed forces. The yearly budget amounts to about £8505000. There is the usual provincial assembly, court of claims, intendancy, one chief engineer of public works, one chief engineer of mines, and many minor functionaries, almost all natives of Spain. ; San Juan Bautisla de .Puerto Rico, the present capital of the island, stands not on the mainland, but on a coralline reef forming an outer shore and inclosing a winding lagoon, crossed by bridges. The Governor's palace was erected by Ponce De Leon. There are a cathedral, a town house, or capitrl, a theatre, and other substantial public buildings. Its harbour is the best in the West Indies, with an unobstructed entrance and good depth of water right up to the wharves. An English gas company furnishes illumination. There is but one really good highroad on the island, toward which all others reach. It is 131 kilometers long. There are steam railroads from San Juan to Rio Pedras, from Cantano to Bayamon, and one or two other towns. There are 38 telegraph stations and cable communication with the outside world. The island is extremely fertile. Sugar, coffee, tobacco, and honey are the chief exports. c The tobacco is not quite so good as that of Cuba. Wax, cacao, rice, corn, tea, cotton, vegetables, fruits, and fine woods are also produced largely, besides sheep, horses, goals, and hogs. ' The mineral products are zinc, coal, and salt, though doposits of gold, silver, and copper have been found, and there are valuable marble quarries. In four departments of the island mineral and medicinal waters are foiind. The sugar exportation in 1890 was valued at 4,114 dollars (pews). The sum of exports in 1889 was 11,666,584 dollars (pesos), and that ? imports 14,177,577 dollars (pesos). Most of the oxchanges are carried on with the United States, with which the native populace feels considerable sympathy, in consequence of trade relations. Ten years ago only one-seventh of the population was returned by the census as able to read and write Since then, however, public instruction has made considerable progress. The island forms a single diocese, suffragan to the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba. The Jiishoprio of Puerto Rico was erected in 1511 by the Papal Bull of Julius 11. The diocese is divided into 76 parishes. There are several convents of monks and nuns. San Juan is well laid out, with straight, regular streets, as tropical cities go. Here the Spanish merchants transact the business of_the island.

• Du " n tlle Past year Spain lias been terrorising the Puerto Kicans, and trade and commerce have been almost paralysed. The country has long been in a state of alarm, and the despatching of the torpedo flotilla from Spain to the Canaries, and thence to i uerlo Rico recently, has 3tirr:tl up the native populace greatly. The gaols all over the island are filled with political prisoners. Many persons have left the island, fearing incarceration on some flimsy pretext. Prisoners have been subjected to revolting cruelties.