[No. 723.] AN ACT providing for an increase in the number of telegraph operators and officers in the Bureau of Philippines Constabulary, and amending Acts Numbered One hundred and seventy-five, Four hundred and ninety, and Five hundred and ninety-five. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The Chief of Philippines Constabulary is hereby authorized to employ as many telegraph operators, not to exceed twenty, and as many linemen, not to exceed ten, as may be necessary to meet the necessities which may arise in gradually taking over from the Army of the United States the control of telegraph lines in the Philippine Archipelago. SEC. 2. Section five of Act Numbered One hundred and seventy-five, providing for the organization and government of an Insular Constabulary and for the inspection of the Municipal Police, as amended, is hereby further amended by creating the position of sixth assistant chief of the Philippines Constabulary, who shall be appointed by the Civil Governor, by and with the consent of the Commission, who shall receive the same compensation as provided by law for other assistant chiefs, and whose duties shall be those prescribed in said section five of Act Numbered One hundred and seventy-five, as amended, for assistant chiefs of Constabulary. SEC. 3. The Chief of Philippines Constabulary is hereby authorized to increase the number of officers in the Philippines Constabulary over the number now provided for by law, so that there may be five additional officers appointed in each grade, the total maximum number to be as follows: Forty-seven captains and inspectors, fifty first lieutenants and inspectors, seventy second lieutenants and inspectors, eighty third lieutenants and inspectors, and forty-five subinspectors. SEC. 4. Any provisions contained in Acts Numbered Four hundred and ninety and Five hundred and ninety-five, under the heading "Bureau of Philippines Constabulary," which may be in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed. SEC. 5. Appropriations made under Act Numbered Five hundred and ninety-five, under the head of "Pay of Philippines Constabulary, nineteen hundred and three," are hereby rendered available for the payment of the increased number of officers and employees in the Philippines Constabulary for the remainder of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and three. SEC. 6. There is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five thousand dollars, United States currency, for pay of Philippines Constabulary, nineteen hundred and three, the same to be expended in addition to the amount appropriated in Act Numbered Five hundred and ninetyfive for pay of Philippines Constabulary, in the payment of the force herein authorized for the remainder of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and three. SEC. 7. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twentysixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 8. This act shall take effect on its Enacted, April 7, 1903. passage. [No. 724.] AN ACT to amend Act Numbered Eighty, as amended, by requiring that during the heated term the hours of labor required of employees each day may be reduced to five under certain conditions. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. Section one of Act Numbered Eighty, entitled "An Act regulating the hours of labor, leaves of absence, and transportation of appointees under the Philippine Civil Service," as amended by Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-eight, is hereby further amended by adding at the close of the first sentence of said section, after the word "compensation," the following words: Provided, however, That during the heated term from the first day of April to the fifteenth day of June in each year the heads of Departments, Bureaus, or Offices in the Philippine Civil Service shall have discretion to reduce the required number of hours of labor each day, not including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, to five hours, one hour and a half of which time shall be after four o'clock in the afternoon: And provided further, That during the present year of nineteen hundred and three the period during which such reduction in the hours of labor may be granted shall be from the tenth day of April to the twenty-fifth day of June." SEC. 2. The provisions of the preceding section shall not oblige the head of a Department, Bureau, or Office in the Philippine Civil Service to reduce the hours of labor to five hours, but it shall be within his discretion to reduce the present number of hours if consistent with the needs of the public service. The amendment shall not be regarded as conferring a right upon officers or employees. SEC. 3. The reduction of the required hours of labor under this Act shall not apply to the officers or employees of any Department, Bureau, or Office to whom an overtime wage is allowed and paid. SEC. 4. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 5. This act shall take effect on its passage. [No. 725.] AN ACT to authorize the Commanding General in the Philippines to use the land now occupied by the ruins of the old Jesuit church, located at the corner of Calles Victoria and Palacio, in the walled city of Manila, for the purpose of constructing a continuation and improvement of the Cuartel de España. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The Commanding General of the Division of the Philippines is hereby permitted and authorized to take possession of the land now occupied by the ruins of the old Jesuit church located at the corner of Calles Victoria and Palacio in the walled city of Manila, which is public property and under the control and disposition of the Insular Government, for military use and for the purpose of constructing a continuation and improvement of the Cuartel de España, such improvement, however, not to encroach upon the small park or square located immediately in front of the ruins of the old Jesuit church and affording light and air to the Santa Potenciana building. SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its [No. 726.] passage. AN ACT defining the procedure to be followed in the apportionment of the assets of existing municipalities which may be consolidated or divided by the formation of new municipalities, or by annexation to other existing municipalities. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. In all cases in which two or more municipalities organized under the Municipal Code shall be united by Act of the Commission it shall be the duty of the provincial treasurer of the province in which such municipalities are located to examine the office of the municipal treasurer of each of the municipalities united, to audit his accounts, and to receive from each municipal treasurer the amounts of money remaining in the treasury of the municipality. The amounts thus received, when covered into the provincial treasury, shall be paid out by the provincial treasurer to the municipal treasurer of the new consolidated municipality. SEC. 2. Whenever one or more barrios, or any other part of an existing municipality, shall be separated from such existing municipality, either to form a new municipality or to be added to another existing municipality, or in cases of the consolidation of parts of two or more municipalities into a new municipality, or in cases in which an old municipality is divided and a portion thereof assigned to the one new municipality and a portion to another, it shall be the duty of the provincial board equitably to divide the funds on deposit in the treasury of the existing municipality to be divided, and the taxes payable to such municipality and uncollected, and to apportion both the funds and the taxes to the parts of the divided municipality as equity may require, having such regard as may seem proper to the amount of taxes produced by the respective parts of the municipality whose territory is divided. In case any municipality affected shall be aggrieved by the disposition made of such funds or taxes an appeal may be taken within twenty days after the action of the provincial board from the decision of the provincial board to the Civil Governor, whose decision shall be final. SEC. 3. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 4. This act shall take effect on its passage, but shall apply to all cases of division of municipalities as provided in section two, whether the same be now provided for by law or shall hereafter be provided for by law. Enacted, April 7, 1903. [No. 727.] AN ACT to amend Act numbered six hundred and seventy-two, amending Act numbered seventy-four, establishing a Department of Public Instruction, and its amendments, as to the status of the assistant to the General Superintendent of Education. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. Act Numbered Six hundred and seventy-two, entitled "An Act amending Act Numbered Seventy-four, establishing a Department of Public Instruction, as amended by Acts Numbered Four hundred and seventy-seven and Five hundred and twenty-five, by providing for an assistant to the General Superintendent of Education, for the reduction of the number of school divisions to thirty-five, for the traveling expenses of the General Superintendent, assistant to the General Superintendent, and division superintendents, and for other purposes," is hereby amended by inserting in paragraph (b) of section one of said Act, at the close of the first sentence therein, the following: "Provided, That the status of the assistant to the General Superintendent of Education in reference to the requirements of the Civil Service Law shall be the same as that of the General Superintendent, the division superintendents, and the teachers of public schools." SEC. 2. This Act shall be retroactive in so far as to authorize and make legal the payment of salary for services rendered by a person appointed to the position of assistant to the General Superintendent without a compliance with the Civil Service Law. SEC. 3. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 4. This act shall take effect on its passage. [No. 728.] AN ACT authorizing the provincial board of the Province of Ambos Camarines to maintain a force of volunteers during the operations against ladrones in the Province of Albay. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The provincial board of the Province of Ambos Camarines is hereby authorized to make provision for the pay and subsistence of a force of volunteers organized for the purpose of protecting the boundary line between the Provinces of Albay and Ambos Camarines during the active operation against ladrones in the Province of Albay, and for other expenses incidental to such campaign. The provincial treasurer of the Province of Ambos Camarines is hereby authorized to make payment out of provincial funds for such expenditures, pursuant to appropriation duly made by the provincial board. SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. [No. 729.] AN ACT authorizing and directing the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago to transfer on the books of his office to the general revenue account balances remain-. ing in fiscal year appropriations one year after the expiration of the fiscal year to which they pertain, or when the head of any Department, Bureau, or Office may certify that there are no outstanding obligations against said appropriations. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago is hereby authorized and directed to transfer on the books of his office from the appropriations for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and two to the general revenue account as unappropriated moneys all balances undrawn and to the credit of the various Departments, Bureaus, and Offices of the Insular Government on account of said fiscal year, except the following amounts expressed in United States currency: The sum of three thousand dollars for "Support of hospitals, plants, and stations, Board of Health, nineteen hundred and two." The sum of one thousand dollars for "Suppression and extermination of epidemic diseases and pests, Board of Health, nineteen hundred and two. The sum of twelve thousand dollars for "Contingent expenses, Bureau of Government Laboratories, nineteen hundred and two." The sum of one hundred and thirty-eight dollars and sixty-nine cents for "Contingent expenses, Philippine Civil Hospital, nineteen hundred and two." The sum of four dollars and ninety-four cents for "Contingent expenses, Civil Sanitarium at Benguet, nineteen hundred and two." The sum of four hundred dollars for "Contingent expenses, Bureau of the Insular Treasurer, nineteen hundred and two." The sum of two thousand six hundred and twenty-three dollars and forty-eight cents for "Contingent expenses, Insular Cold Storage and Ice Plant, nineteen hundred and two." The sum of three thousand dollars for "Contingent expenses, Bureau of Public Instruction, nineteen hundred and two." The sum of fifty-two thousand one hundred dollars for "Maintenance of public buildings, Bureau of Architecture and Construction of Public Buildings, nineteen hundred and two." |