tion for contingent expenses, Bureau of Justice, as the Secretary of Finance and Justice shall decide, upon rules enforced in respect to the civil service in analogous cases.

SEC. 27. Clerks of Courts of First Instance outside of Manila and their salaries; deputy clerks.-There shall be clerks of Courts of First Instance outside the city of Manila, appointed in the manner hereinafter provided for provinces, parts of provinces, districts, and subdistricts, and they shall receive annual salaries, payable monthly from the Insular Treasury, all as hereinafter specified:

For the Provinces of Iloilo and Cebu, one thousand two hundred dollars each.

For the Provinces of Pangasinan, Batangas, and Occidental Negros, one thousand one hundred dollars each.

For the Provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan, Bohol, and Leyte, one thousand dollars each.

For the Provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Rizal, La Laguna, Cavite, Tayabas, Albay, Ambos Camarines, Capiz, Antique, Samar, and Misamis, nine hundred dollars each.

For the Provinces of Cagayan, Zambales, Bataan, Mindoro, Sorsogon, Oriental Negros, and Surigao, eight hundred dollars each.

For the Provinces of Isabela and Abra, and for the Court of First Instance of the Province of Tayabas at Boac, Marinduque, seven hundred dollars each.

For the Province of Romblon, five hundred dollars.

For the Province of Paragua, three hundred dollars, and a deputy clerk for the court at Puerto Princesa, at a salary of two hundred dollars.

For the Province of Masbate, four hundred dollars.

For the district of Lanao, in the Moro Province, three hundred dollars.

For the subdistrict of Dapitan, in the Moro Province, three hundred dollars.

For the Mountain District, one clerk at an annual salary of one thousand six hundred dollars, who shall act as clerk of the three Courts of First Instance in the district and as interpreter and translator and shall accompany the judge to each court of the district. There shall be appointed three deputy clerks, one for each of the three courts of the district, at an annual salary of three hundred dollars each. The deputy clerks of the Mountain District are hereby made justices of the peace with jurisdiction throughout their respective provinces. The office of clerk of Court of First Instance for Lepanto-Bontoc and that for Nueva Vizcaya are hereby abolished.

For the district of Jolo, one clerk, who shall also perform the duties of interpreter and translator in the courts of Jola and Bongao, at a salary of one thousand dollars per annum, and there shall be appointed one deputy clerk for the court at Jolo and one deputy clerk for the court at Bongao, each at a salary of two hundred dollars.

For the district of Zamboanga (except the subdistrict of Dapitan), the district of Cottabato, and the district of Davao, all in the Moro Province, one clerk, who shall also perform the duties of interpreter and translator in the courts of Zamboanga, Cottabato, and Davao, at a salary of one thousand two hundred dollars. A deputy clerk at Zamboanga, at Cottabato, and at Davao, each at an annual salary of two hundred dollars, shall be appointed.

The offices of deputy clerks of the Courts of First Instance at Barili in Cebu, at Daet in Ambos Camarines, at Mauban in Tayabas, and at Maasin in Leyte are hereby abolished.

SEC. 28. Fees of clerk belong to Insular Government; clerk responsible for default of deputy; bond of deputy.-All fees charged by clerks or deputy clerks of Courts of First Instance shall belong to the Insular Government. A clerk shall be pecuniarily responsible under his bond for the official defaults of his deputy and shall require of his deputy sufficient bond of indemnity for his security against loss by malfeasance or nonfeasance of the deputy.

SEC. 29. Clerks and deputy clerks and court_subordinates whose offices are not abolished to continue; vacancies to be filled by AttorneyGeneral, upon approval of Secretary of Finance and Justice.-All of the clerks mentioned in this Act, and all deputy clerks, whether mentioned in this Act or not, whose offices are not in this Act specifically abolished, who are now holding office, shall continue to discharge their duties and receive their emoluments as provided by law; but all vacancies in such offices existing at the time this Act shall take effect, or occurring thereafter, shall be filled by appointment of the AttorneyGeneral, subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Act, and upon the approval of the Secretary of Finance and Justice, and, in case of deputy clerks, upon the recommendation of the proper clerk. They shall hold office during the pleasure of the judge, and may be summarily removed, but their successors shall be appointed under the rules of the Civil Service Act in the manner above provided. The AttorneyGeneral may, with the approval of the Secretary of Finance and Justice, abolish such deputy clerkships as are not specifically provided for in section twenty-seven hereof, if the public interests so requires. Such stenographers, typewriters, interpreters, translators, escribientes, and messengers as are needed for the proper transaction of the business of the courts of First Instance outside the city of Manila shall be appointed by the Attorney-General under the rules of the Civil Service Act and with the approval of the Secretary of Finance and Justice, subject to summary removal by the judge of the court in which they are serving. The Attorney-General shall determine the number of such employees that may be necessary for such courts in the different provinces and the salaries to be paid to such employees, all upon the approval thereof by the Secretary of Finance and Justice: Provided, however, That such stenographers, typewriters, and other subordinate court employees appointed under section two of Act Numbered One hundred and fifty-two, or section fifty-eight of Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-six, shall continue as such until removed by proper authority or unless the office to which they have been assigned has been or shall be abolished, in which case their employment shall cease unless by proper authority they may be transferred to another office.

SEC. 30. Clerks and deputy clerks not to leave provinces or districts without permission of Attorney-General; places of absent clerks and deputies; how supplied.-No clerk or deputy clerk shall leave the district or province in which he is required by law to discharge his duties, without obtaining permission of the Attorney-General, and, in case of the absence of a clerk or deputy clerk and the public interest requires it, the Attorney-General may designate some one in the office of the absent officer, if there be any such person who is suitable, to act in the place of such clerk or deputy clerk, and Acts Numbered

Four hundred and eight and Six hundred and twenty-six are made applicable to such cases as far as may be.

SEC. 31. Where no fiscal or treasurer to examine collecting accounts of clerks and deputies and to certify pay vouchers, Civil Governor to designate officer for purpose.-In cases in which the provisions of Act Numbered Four hundred and fifty-two are inoperative in respect to clerks of Courts of First Instance because there is no provincial treasurer or fiscal to whom the Act can apply, the Secretary of Finance and Justice, upon the recommendation of the Insular Auditor, shall designate the judge of the Court of First Instance or some suitable local official to make examination of the collection accounts of clerks in the manner provided in section one of said Act and to certify to all vouchers under section two of said Act.

SEC. 32. Traveling expenses and subsistence allowance for clerks of Mountain District and in Moro Province.-The clerks herein before provided in the Mountain District, in the district of Jolo, and in the districts of Zamboanga, Cottabato, and Davao, whose duty it shall be to accompany the judges of their respective districts from one place of holding court to another therein and to act as interpreters and translators therein, shall receive their actual traveling expenses and their expenses of subsistence while absent from their usual places of residence, the latter not to exceed four pesos a day, to be paid out of the Insular Treasury as other expenses of the Bureau of Justice: Provided, however, That such clerks shall reside at one of the usual places of holding court in their respective districts.

SEC. 33. Temporary sheriffs.-A temporary sheriff appointed in any district under Act Numbered One hundred and fifty-nine shall not serve for more than ninety days and no temporary sheriff shall again be appointed in such district except to a vacancy occurring after a permanent sheriff shall have been appointed and qualified.

SEC. 34. Repealing clause.-The following Acts, sections, and parts of sections are hereby repealed:

So much of section two of Act Numbered One hundred and four as provides a fiscal for the Province of Romblon.

Sections five, six, eleven, thirteen, fifty-eight, and sixty-three of Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-six, entitled "An Act providing for the organization of courts in the Philppine Islands."

Act Numbered One hundred and forty, entitled "An Act defining the judicial districts of the Philippine Islands, prescribing the salaries of the judges thereof, and the times when and the places where terms of Courts of First Instance shall be held in the several districts."

Act Numbered One hundred and fifty-one, entitled "An Act fixing the compensation of the clerk of the Court of First Instance for each province."

Act Numbered One hundred and fifty-eight, amendatory of Act Numbered One hundred and fifty-one.

Act Numbered One hundred and sixty, entitled "An Act making temporary provision for the appointment of fiscals in the provinces and islands not yet organized under the Provincial Government Act."

Act Numbered One hundred and sixty-one, entitled "An Act so amending Act Numbered One hundred and forty as to define the time and place of holding the Court of First Instance in and for the Province of Masbate."

Act Numbered One hundred and seventy-seven, amending section fifty-eight of Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-six.

Section one of Act Numbered Two hundred and twenty-one, providing a fiscal for Masbate.

Act Numbered Two hundred and sixty-nine, entitled "An Act amending Act Numbered One hundred and forty so as to provide that sessions of the Court of First Instance for the Provinces of Lepanto and Bontoc shall be held at Cervantes instead of at Cayan."

Act Numbered Three hundred, entitled "An Act amending sections forty-seven, fifty-two, fifty-three, and sixty-three of Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-six, providing for the organization of courts in the Philippine Islands."

Section two of Act Numbered Three hundred and twenty-five, providing for an increase in the salary of the judge for the Third Judicial District of the Philippine Islands.

Paragraph (d) of section two of Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven, as amended by paragraph (a) of Act Numbered Three hundred and eighty-eight, fixing the salary of a provincial fiscal for Nueva Viscaya.

Section nine of Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven, providing for the appointment and prescribing the duties of the fiscal of Nueva Viscaya.

Act Numbered Three hundred and ninety, entitled "An Act amending Act Numbered One hundred and forty so as to authorize judges of Courts of First Instance to hold special terms of their several courts at places within their respective districts other than those fixed in said Act."

Act Numbered Four hundred and one, entitled "An Act so amending Act Numbered One hundred and forty, entitled 'An Act defining the judicial districts of the Philippine Islands, prescribing the salaries of the judges thereof, and the times when and the places where terms of Courts of First Instance shall be held in the several districts,' as to authorize actions pending in certain provinces to be tried at another place in the province than the one required by said Act."

66

Act Numbered Four hundred and fourteen, entitled An Act authorizing the judge of the Court of First Instance for the Sixth Judicial District to hold certain sessions of the court for the southern part of the Province of Tayabas in the municipality of Tayabas."

Act Numbered Four hundred and forty-two, entitled "An Act amending Act Numbered Three hundred and ninety so as to authorize the payment of the traveling expenses of certain officials and employees of Courts of First Instance when sessions are held at other places than those fixed for regular sessions."

Act Numbered Four hundred and fifty, entitled "An Act making the Province of Nueva Vizcaya a separate judicial district and authorizing the governor to perform the duties of judge of the Court of First Instance therein."

Act Numbered Five hundred and one, entitled "An Act transferring the Province of Tayabas from the Sixth to the Seventh Judicial District, and the Province of Mindoro from the Seventh to the Sixth Judicial District, providing for the holding of the terms of court for Tayabas at the towns of Tayabas and Boac, and amending Act Numbered One hundred and forty."

Act Numbered Five hundred and fifty-two, entitled "An Act transferring the Province of Bataan from the Fifth to the Sixth Judicial District, and amending Act Numbered One hundred and forty."

Act Numbered Five hundred and seventy-five entitled "An Act

authorizing judges of Courts of First Instance and justices of the Supreme Court holding a session, special or general, of the Court of First Instance of any province to prepare and sign judgments in the cases tried by them outside of the province where such sessions were held."

Act Numbered Seven hundred and twelve, entitled "An Act amending section two of Act Numbered One hundred and forty, by providing for an increase in the salaries of judges of the Courts of First Instance." And all other Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 34. This Act shall be known by the short title of "Act Amending Organization of Courts."

SEC. 35. 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. 36. This act shall take effect October first, nineteen hundred and three; but appointments to offices created herein may be made and confirmed and the appointees qualified at any time after the passage of this act: Provided, That such appointees shall not begin the discharge of their duties or the earning of their salaries until the date above mentioned.

Enacted, September 5, 1903.

[No. 868.]

AN ACT for the relief of L. M. Maus, lieutenant-colonel, United States Army, late Commissioner of Public Health, by authorizing the settlement of his property returns without charge against him.

Whereas L. M. Maus, lieutenant-colonel, United States Army, when Commissioner of Public Health of the Philippine Islands, became accountable for certain public civil property; and

Whereas said property was used for the purpose of combating bubonic plague and Asiatic cholera and in the interest of the public service; and in view of the fact that a committee convened by direction of the Civil Governor, under date of August twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and two, for the purpose of investigating, reporting upon, and making an inventory of all public civil property for which L. M. Maus, late Commissioner of Public Health, was chargeable, has recommended that he be held accountable for the loss of certain nonexpendable public civil property; and

Whereas in the opinion of the Commission the loss of the property was incident to a cholera epidemic and to conditions over which the said L. M. Maus had no control, and that the circumstances justify specific authorization for a credit in his accounts: Now, therefore,

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

SECTION 1. Credit for the loss of certain public civil property, by said L. M. Maus, late Commissioner of Public Health, is hereby authorized, and the Auditor for the Philippine Islands is hereby authorized and directed to credit the property returns of said L. M. Maus with the nonexpendable property for which he was held accountable by the report of said committee.