Items of Interest June 23, 1917 Issue

Items of Interest

The Government of Nicaragua has promulgated a new land law, by which native Nicaraguan heads of families may acquire free homesteads and other persons may purchase lands at very low prices. According to the text of this law the Government will reserve for public use a certain zone of land on the coast of Nicaragua, on navigable rivers and lakes, and on the frontier adjoining Honduras. Any native Nicaraguan who is the head of a family may acquire a homestead of 50 hectares of land (123.5 acres) without payment, provided the homesteader lives on the land five years, builds a house on it, and cultivates at least a quarter of it. This privilege will apply to squatters who have already built homes and cultivated land in the territory covered by this law. Homesteads may not be sold, mortgaged, leased, or transferred. Foreigners as well as natives may take up claims on agricultural lands to the extent of 350 hectares, and on stock raising lands up to 700 hectares. At the expiration of five years the agricultural settler must pay $1.28 a hectare for arable land, and $2 a hectare for irrigated land. The stock raiser will pay 80 cents a hectare for mountainous or tableland covered with natural pasture. One half of the purchase price must be paid in cash and the other half may be paid in Government bonds. The cash receipts are to be used for educational purposes.

An American firm has enlisted the aid of the United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in obtaining five young men for service in Russia. These men must be between twenty-two and twenty-eight years of age, neither engaged nor married, having a knowledge of some language besides English as an indication of their ability to acquire foreign languages, and they must furnish suitable references. They will spend two summers and one winter traveling in Russia and studying the methods of operation in Russian establishments. They will be paid an annual salary of approximately $1500, plus traveling and living expenses. The request is for one who has been employed in oil well operations or oil manufacture; one who has a good general working knowledge of macadamized roads, dirt roads, and their care; one who has spent time since leaving college in mining or metallurgy; one who was brought up on a farm and who has studied agriculture and dairy farming; one who has been employed in a steel plant or large foundry and who has some idea of machine tools. Letters of the applicants, which must contain full information and be addressed to file No. 7431, will be transmitted by the bureau to the firm making the inquiry.

The sample fair at Lyons, France, will undoubtedly become a permanent institution and take its place as one of the great trade fairs of the world. The second fair confirmed the success of the one held last year by trebling the number of exhibitors and recording actual sales aggregating millions of dollars. The many and varied demands of the buyers in attendance emphasized the importance of the foreign trade that will come after the war. While the opening date was set for March 1, it was not until March 18, owing to the many handicaps imposed by the war and inadequate transportation, that the fair was officially opened, and it closed April 1. There was a total of 1342 exhibitors at the fair of 1916, while the official register showed a total of 3159 exhibitors for this year. The next fair will be held during the first two weeks of March, 1918. More attention will be paid to concentration, and the booths, which this year stretched along the great quays of the Rhone for a distance of six miles, will be grouped at two points.

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