operation, maintenance, repair, improvements, and materials incurred in the landing, conveyance, storage, and delivery of imported merchandise at the port of Manila: Provided, That the total amount of such expenditures shall not exceed the total amount of the receipts: And provided further, That all expenditures for salaries and wages and other necessary expenses shall be made on regular vouchers, and receipts taken therefor.

SEC. 3. All expenditures made under the provisions of the two preceding sections shall be made by order of the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands, which shall be sufficient authorization therefor.

SEC. 4. A report showing the total receipts for the unloading, conveyance, storage, and delivery of imported merchandise and expenditures for salaries and wages and necessary expenses incurred shall be rendered monthly to the Secretary of Finance and Justice.

SEC. 5. The Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands is hereby authorized to retain such of the superintendents, wharfingers, foremen, engineers, firemen, and other skilled and unskilled laborers as are at present employed in operating said arrastre plant at the custom-house of the port of Manila as he shall deem necessary, without examination under the Civil Service Act and rules, and such employees shall be classified by the Civil Service Board and become members of the civil service. The Collector of Customs may appoint or employ from time to time such additional superintendents, wharfingers, foremen, engineers, firemen, and other skilled and unskilled laborers and discharge the same, subject to the Civil Service Act and rules, as he shall deem necessary to operate said arrastre plant, to fix the salaries and wages of such retained and additional employees, and to incur such expense for operation, maintenance, repair, and improvement of said arrastre system, including payment of regular overtime work by customs employees in connection with arrastre, as he shall deem necessary.

SEC. 6. The Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands shall from time to time prescribe such regulations as he may deem necessary for the proper conduct of the system of unloading, conveyance, storing, and delivery of imported merchandise at the custom house of the port of Manila.

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 twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SEC. 8. This act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, September 23, 1903.

[No. 898.]

AN ACT providing for the closing of the port of Aparri as a port of entry, creating the ports of Bongao, Cape Melville, Balabac Island, and Puerto Princesa ports of entry, and amending section three hundred and one of act numbered three hundred and fifty-five.

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

SECTION 1. The port of Aparri, in the Aparri collection district, is

hereby discontinued as a port of entry and sections two and three of Act Numbered Three hundred and ninety-four, creating Aparri a port of entry and providing for customs employees thereat, are hereby repealed.

SEC. 2. The port of Bongao, in the Jolo collection district, and the ports of Cape Melville, Balabac Island, and Puerto Princesa, in the Manila collection district, are hereby created ports of entry.

SEC. 3. The following employees are hereby authorized at each of said ports: One collector of customs of class six, who shall act as disbursing clerk without additional compensation; one clerk of Class D, and such number of boatmen of Class K as may be necessary to the proper conduct of the customs business at each port.

SEC. 4. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to prohibit the retention of Aparri as a port open to the Philippine coastwise trade.

SEC. 5. The Insular Collector of Customs is hereby authorized, upon it appearing to him that the good of the service does not require the maintenance of a custom-house and all or any of the employees provided for any port of entry created by this Act, to close any or all of said ports as ports of entry for a period not to exceed six months and to withdraw any or all of said employees: Provided, That notice of such closing shall be posted at the office of the collector of the port to be closed at least forty days before the date fixed for closing the port. During the time that any of said ports are thus closed, they shall be held to be coastwise ports, and the importation of merchandise thereat shall subject both vessels and cargo to seizure and forfeiture under the provisions of section three hundred and one of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, as amended by the following section of this Act.

SEC. 6. Section three hundred and one of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five of the Philippine Commission is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 301. The importation of merchandise from any port or place outside of the Philippine Islands into any port or place in the Philippine Islands, except through such ports of entry as have been or may hereafter be established by competent authority, or such importation of merchandise in a vessel of less than thirty tons burden, shall subject both vessel and cargo to seizure and forfeiture: Provided, That the importation of merchandise at the entry ports of Bongao, Cape Melville, Balabac Island, and Puerto Princesa may be made in vessels of Philippine construction of five or more tons burden without subjecting said vessels to seizure and forfeiture.”

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 twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SEC. 8. This act shall take effect October fifteenth, nineteen hundred and three.

Enacted, September 24, 1903.

WAR 1903-VOL 8- -46

[No. 899.]

AN ACT authorizing the suspension of sentences imposed upon citizens of the United States in certain cases, providing for the transportation of convicted vagrants to the United States, and making a permanent appropriation therefor. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Upon the conviction of any citizen of the United States under Act Numbered Five hundred and nineteen, entitled “An Act defining vagrancy and providing for punishment therefor," the court may suspend sentence, conditioned upon the convict leaving the Philippine Islands and not returning thereto for a period of not more than ten years; and the fulfillment of this obligation shall be deemed as an extinguishment of the prescribed sentence.

SEC. 2. In such cases the court or judge may order the removal of the convict to Bilibid Prison, in the city of Manila, there to remain in custody until he can be placed upon a steamer returning to the United States. This order shall be executed in the manner prescribed by the Civil Governor in each case.

SEC. 3. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an amount sufficient to pay the actual and necessary expenses in carrying out the provisions of this Act.

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.
Enacted, September 24, 1903.

[No. 900.]

AN ACT providing for a loan of five thousand pesos, Philippines currency, to the

Province of Misamis.

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

SECTION 1. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five thousand pesos, Philippines currency, to be loaned to the Province of Misamis and to be expended by the provincial board of that province for the general expenses of the provincial government.

SEC. 2. The money appropriated in the first section of this Act shall be paid to the supervisor-treasurer of the Province of Misamis upon the production by him to the Treasurer of the Philippine Islands of a certified copy of a resolution of the provincial board of the Province of Misamis accepting such loan and agreeing to repay the money, without interest, on or before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and four.

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.
Enacted, September 24, 1903.

[No. 901.]

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

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 four, extending the provisions of the Provincial Government Act to the Province of Romblon, 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 shall constitute the provincial board.

SEC. 3. The bond of the provincial supervisor-treasurer shall be seven thousand five hundred dollars. He shall receive an annual salary of one thousand five 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, bridges, and buildings at a salary not to exceed sixty dollars a month.

SEC. 4. So much of Act Numbered One hundred and four and its amendments 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, September 24, 1903.

[No. 902.]

AN ACT to amend Act Numbered Eight hundred and thirty-eight, entitled "An Act to authorize provincial boards to make certain purchases to assist in carrying into operation the provisions of Act Numbered Seven hundred and seventyfour."

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

SECTION 1. Section one of Act Numbered Eight hundred and thirtyeight, entitled "An Act to authorize provincial boards to make certain purchases to assist in carrying into operation the provisions of Act Numbered Seven hundred and seventy-four," is hereby amended by striking out the word "wooden" in the fifth line of said section, so that the section as amended shall read as follows:

"SECTION 1. The provincial board of any province organized under the Provincial Government Act is hereby authorized, out of any funds available for the general purposes of the provincial government, to purchase not exceeding two hundred and fifty pairs of wheels, with the corresponding axles and with tires of a width not less than two

and one-half inches, and to sell the same in the province at the price of purchase, together with the expense of their transportation to the province, for the purpose of showing the inhabitants how Act Numbered Seven hundred and seventy-four can be properly complied with.” 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, September 25, 1903.

[No. 903.]

AN ACT to amend Act Numbered Six hundred and ninety-nine by making it clear that nothing in said Act contained was intended to amend or repeal the provisions of Act Numbered Four hundred and eighty-seven.

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

SECTION 1. Section one of Act Numbered Six hundred and ninetynine, entitled "An Act to amend section nine of the Provincial Government Act, Numbered Eighty-three, as amended by Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-three," is hereby amended by inserting at the beginning of paragraph (b) of section nine of the Provincial Government Act, as in said Act Numbered Six hundred and ninety-nine amended and set forth, the following words: "Except where otherwise specially provided," and by adding at the close of said paragraph the following: "Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to amend or repeal Act Numbered Four hundred and eighty-seven, entitled 'An Act amending Act Numbered Eighty-two, entitled "The Municipal Code," and Act Numbered Three hundred and three, amendatory thereof.""

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, September 25, 1903.

[No. 904.]

AN ACT providing for a loan of ten thousand dollars, United States currency, to the Province of Occidental Negros for the construction of a building for a school of secondary instruction at Bacolod.

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

SECTION 1. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ten thousand dollars, United States currency, or its equivalent in Philippines currency, in the discretion of the Insular Treasurer, to be loaned to the Province of Occidental Negros.