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.

Enacted, July 31, 1903.

[No. 815.]

AN ACT consolidating the offices of provincial treasurer and provincial supervisor of the Province of Surigao.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. The offices of provincial treasurer and provincial supervisor provided for in Act Numbered One hundred and twenty-seven, extending the provisions of the Provincial Government Act to the Province of Surigao, are hereby consolidated, and the office thus formed shall be known as the office of provincial supervisor-treasurer. SEC. 2. The provincial governor, the provincial supervisor-treasurer, and the division superintendent of schools for the province, who shall receive no additional compensation for such services, shall constitute the provincial board.

SEC. 3. The bond of the provincial supervisor-treasurer shall be fourteen thousand dollars. He shall receive an annual salary of two thousand three hundred dollars, payable monthly. His qualifications and duties shall be the same as the qualifications and duties of provincial supervisor and provincial treasurer as outlined in the Provincial Government Act, except that the requirement that the provincial supervisor shall be a competent civil engineer and surveyor shall not apply. The supervisor-treasurer may employ a foreman in charge of the repair and construction of roads, at a salary not to exceed sixty dollars a month.

SEC. 4. So much of Act Numbered One hundred and twenty-seven or any amendment thereof as may be inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed.

SEC. 5. 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. 6. This act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, July 31, 1903.

[No. 816.]

AN ACT to amend section thirteen of Act Numbered Seven hundred and two, regulating the registration of Chinese persons in the Philippine Archipelago, by authorizing an increase in the number of temporary employees provided for by

said Act.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Section thirteen of Act Numbered Seven hundred and two, entitled "An Act to regulate the registration of Chinese persons

in the Philippine Archipelago, and to carry into effect and enforce the provisiors of section four of the Act of Congress approved April twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and two, entitled 'An Act to prohibit the coming into and to regulate the residence within the United States, its Territories, and all territory under its jurisdiction, and the District of Columbia, of Chinese persons and persons of Chinese descent,'" is hereby amended by authorizing in the Office of the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Archipelago ten registration clerks of class nine and four Chinese translators of Class D, in lieu of six registration clerks and two Chinese translators of class nine, so that said section, as amended, shall read as follows:

"SEC. 13. For the purposes of this Act the following temporary employees, or so many thereof as may be necessary, are hereby authorized in the office of the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Archipelago: Ten registration clerks of class nine, four Chinese translators of Class D, and two stenographers and typewriters of class eight."

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.
Enacted, July 31, 1903

[No. 817.]

AN ACT declaring that the presence of locusts in various provinces of the Islands so threatens the food supply for the coming year as to present a public emergency requiring radical action, and authorizing and providing for the appointment of a board in each province with full powers to call upon all able-bodied inhabitants thereof to take united action to suppress the pest, and for other purposes.

Whereas the presence of locusts in various provinces of the Philippine Archipelago so threatens the entire food supply of the Islands for the coming year and presents such an emergency and danger to the welfare of the whole people as to require prompt and radical action for its suppression: Therefore,

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Under the presidency of the provincial governor a board is hereby created in each province for the purpose of suppressing the locust pest, such board to be made up of the members of the provincial board and three agriculturalists to be appointed by the Civil Governor, with the advice and consent of the Commission, and to be known as the Locust Board. The provincial secretary shall act as secretary of the locust board without additional compensation. It shall be the duty of the locust board to enforce the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 2. In every province in which a plague of locusts is threatened or exists every able-bodied inhabitant, subject to such regulations and limitations as the board constituted under this Act may adopt, is hereby declared to be liable to service in suppressing the locust pest. The board is hereby empowered to issue regulations directing the conduct of the persons summoned for the purposes of WAR 1903-VOL 8---41

this Act and to control their operations, either directly or through the municipal officers of the various municipalities who are hereby, in respect to the scope of this Act, made subordinates of the board hereby constituted. The regulations of the board may require that the inhabitants shall work en masse or in such force and in such manner as may be deemed by the board most efficacious to the end in view, or the board may require that each inhabitant subject to this Act shall collect a given quanty of locusts, fixing the amount thereof in "gantas" or cavanes." It is hereby declared to be the intent of this Act to give the board hereby constituted full discretion in the manner of suppressing the locust pest.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of municipal councilors and of all other municipal officers upon the appearance of locusts within their respective barrios to bring the fact at once to the attention of the municipal president whose duty it shall be to take the necessary steps prescribed by the regulations of the board hereby constituted and to bring the fact to the notice of the board through the provincial governor.

SEC. 4. Where any persons summoned under this Act to the public service herein required shall, by reason of their poverty, be unable to support themselves with food during their service, the board hereby constituted may authorize the municipality to furnish them with sufficient rice from the store of rice sent to the province by the Civil Governor and paid for from the "Congressional relief fund," reporting at once to the Civil Governor, and by telegram where possible, the amount needed for such purpose.

SEC. 5. Every person liable under this Act to the lawful orders of the board hereby constituted who shall fail to comply with the same shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined or imprisoned, or both, in the discretion of the municipal president, in accordance with the regulations to be provided by the board: Provided, however, That the penalty shall not exceed in any case ten dollars fine or ten days imprisonment, or both.

SEC. 6. The moneys accruing from fines for violations of this Act shall constitute a special fund to be deposited with the municipal treasurer of the municipality in which such violation occurs for the purpose of being applied by him in payment for the hoppers or "loctones" turned over to him by such persons as have already fulfilled the requirements of the obligation imposed upon them by virtue of the provisions of section two of this Act. The price to be paid for this purpose shall also be determined and fixed in the regulations to be adopted by the board constituted under this Act.

SEC. 7. The board constituted by this Act is hereby authorized to purchase the number of galvanized-iron sheets considered indispensable in the suppression of the locusts by the method of destroying them in trenches, reporting the amount needed at once by telegram to the Civil Governor, who is hereby authorized to expend such amount as in his discretion is needed for the purchase of such galvanized-iron sheets. The provincial supervisor or supervisor-treasurer of the province is required to take up such galvanized-iron sheets upon his property return and to duly account for the same.

SEC. 8. 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. 9. This act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, August 3, 1903.

[No. 818.]

AN ACT authorizing the provincial board of Tayabas to make a loan from provincial funds to the municipality of Lucena in that province.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. The provincial board of Tayabas is hereby authorized to loan from provincial funds the sum of six thousand pesos, Philippines currency, to the municipality of Lucena, in the Province of Tayabas, such loan to be used for the purpose of constructing a public school in the municipality of Lucena, and to be repaid to the provincial treasury on or before one year from the date of the loan without interest.

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.
Enacted, August 3, 1903.

[No. 819.]

AN ACT to amend act numbered eighty-three, entitled "A general Act for the organization of provincial governments in the Philippine Islands," as amended. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Section thirteen of Act Numbered Eighty-three, entitled "A general Act for the organization of provincial governments in the Philippine Islands," as amended, is hereby further amended by adding thereto the following subsection:

“(p) To forward to the Executive Secretary requisitions upon the Insular Purchasing Agent for property or supplies made under the provisions of Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended, and to accompany the same with a certified copy of a resolution by the provincial board or municipal council making the necessary appropriation to cover the cost and expenses thereof; and, also, when notified. by the Insular Purchasing Agent that he is ready to make the shipment, to forward to him a certificate by the provincial treasurer or municipal treasurer, as the case may be, showing that there is sufficient money in the provincial or municipal treasury to cover the cost and expenses incurred by reason of the requisition, and that the money required to make the payment has been set aside by the board or council and is reserved for the purpose. It is hereby made the duty of the provincial treasurer or municipal treasurer to issue such certificate, if the facts warrant the issue thereof, upon the request of the provincial board or municipal council. After the making of an appropriation by the provincial board or municipal council for the purpose above mentioned the money thus set aside shall not be withdrawn by the provincial treasurer or municipal treasurer for any other purpose, whether by direction of the provincial board or municipal council or otherwise, under penalty of dismissal of such provincial or municipal treasurer."

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 enactinent of laws," passed September twentysixth, nineteen hundred.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, August 4, 1903.

[No. 820.]

AN ACT amending Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Section six of Act Numbered One hundred and fortysix, as amended by Act Numbered Two hundred and thirty-one, is hereby further amended by striking out said section and substituting therefor the following:

"SEC. 6. (a) Each head of a Department of the Insular Government or of the city of Manila, and each provincial supervisor, shall make written requisition from time to time upon the Insular Purchasing Agent for all property or supplies he may require, and for the payment of which he has an appropriation available.

"(b) Payment for all articles and supplies so furnished shall be made to the Insular Purchasing Agent at the actual cost thereof in the city of Manila, including freight and all other expenses incident to the delivery in the warehouse of the Insular Purchasing Agent at Manila, and ten per centum additional upon such cost for freight, storage, bookkeeping, breakage, and other proper charges, by the Department, Bureau, or Office, or provincial or city government receiving the same, from its available appropriations.

"(c) All requisitions for property or supplies of any kind made upon the Insular Purchasing Agent shall first be submitted for the approval or disapproval of the Secretary of the Department having jurisdiction over the official making such requisitions, and the Insular Purchasing Agent shall not honor any requisition unless the same is first approved as herein provided.

"(d) The Executive Secretary for the Philippine Islands shall have jurisdiction over and approve or disapprove all requisitions for property or supplies of every kind made upon the Insular Purchasing Agent by any provincial or municipal official, by the Philippine Civil Service Board, and by all other officers of the Insular Government not by law specifically placed under the jurisdiction of one of the Executive Departments: Provided, however, That this provision shall not apply to the city of Manila, in which case the certificate of the Municipal Board approving the requisition shall be sufficient.

"(e) No property or supplies of any kind purchased or procured under any requisition, as herein provided, shall be forwarded by the Insular Purchasing Agent to any province or provincial officer or municipality until after he has received a certificate signed by the provincial treasurer or municipal treasurer, as the case may be, that there is sufficient money in the provincial or municipal treasury to pay for such property or supplies, including all proper expenses, and that the necessary sum of money has been set aside by the provincial board or municipal council and is reserved for making such payment."