the amount of property turned over, or in case of loss of or damage to property in transit, the agent will be called upon for such evidence as he may have to submit, and the officer or agent turning over such property will submit also such evidence as he may have, and the responsibility will be determined by a committee or an inspector asked for by the receiving officer or agent, as provided in section 9 of this act. The action of the committee or inspector, when approved by the Civil or by the Provincial Governor, as the business may relate, shall be filed as a voucher with the property return of the receiving officer.

DEFECTS AND SHORTAGE IN PROPERTY RECEIVED.

SEC. 21. Upon the receipt of public property by an officer or agent, he will make careful examination to ascertain its quality and condition, but will not break original packages until issues are to be made, unless he has reason to believe the contents defective. Should he discover defect or shortage, he will apply for the action of a committee or of an inspector to fix the responsibility. The same rule will be observed in regard to packages when first opened for issue and for property damaged or missing while in store.

PROPERTY FOR TRANSPORTATION TO BE MARKED.

SEC. 22. Officers turning over property for transportation will plainly mark each package with the name and address of the consignee, list of its contents, its weight, and in order to distinguish it from other property, insular property will be marked "Public Civil Property;" provincial property will be marked "Provincial Property....... Province," the name of the province being inserted.

TRANSPORTATION OF PROPERTY.

SEC. 23. The Insular Purchasing Agent shall contract with interisland transportation lines and with railroad companies on behalf of the various civil departments, bureaus and offices for the transportation of such property and supplies as may require shipment by them to and from Manila from and to provincial points. The shipment may be made by the Insular Purchasing Agent or the proper officer of the department, as convenience may require and according to the custody of the property to be shipped, but payment for such transportation shall be made by settlement warrant, upon certification and settlement of the account by the Auditor, said warrant being hereby made chargeable against the appropriations of the respective departments, bureaus or offices in behalf of which the expense for transportation is incurred, and each department, bureau or office shall submit for appropriation, with its regular estimates, the amounts which will probably be required for the payment of such cost of transportation.

Original bills of lading shall be filed with all accounts for transportation service.

The date of shipment, shipping point, destination, name of consignor and consignee, weight (or quantity), rate, kind of property, receipt of consignee with condition of property when delivered to him, and amount charged, should be shown on bill of lading or otherwise for each shipment.

The kind of property and the use for which intended should be detailed sufficiently to indicate clearly the classification and rate of charge, and the appropriation chargeable with the cost of transportation. Transportation should be provided to ultimate destination on through bills of lading whenever practicable.

The expense of shipments in behalf of a province shall be borne by such province and paid, as provided by law, by the Provincial Treasurer to the transportation companies.

APPLICATION OF SECTION 9.

SEC. 24. In all cases of property accountability not covered by preceding sections, the responsibility will be determined in a manner similar to that prescribed in section 9.

PROPERTY BOOK TO BE KEPT.

SEC. 25. A property book shall be kept in each department, bureau or office by the officer or agent who receipts and is responsible for the property in the same. This book shall show all property purchased, received, transferred, condemned, lost or destroyed. The property book shall also contain, in general, all information that may be necessary to make up the quarterly return of public property. The property book will not be removed from the office but will form a part of its permanent record.

INSTRUCTIONS RELATIVE TO INSPECTION AND CONDEMNATION.

SEC. 26. Inspectors and committees appointed under the provisions of this act shall exercise due care in examining property submitted to them for condemnation, and in making recommendations regarding the disposition of such property. It is hereby provided that articles "to be continued in the service" are such as are still serviceable. Those "to be dropped" are such as cannot be sold at the station. If worthless, they shall be so far destroyed as to prevent their future presentation. Articles "to be sold" are such as are of no further public use.

Property once condemned and ordered dropped from the returns shall not be again presented for inspection. Inspectors or committees will cause the destruction of all property condemned as worthless and without money value at or near the place of inspection. The action of an inspector or committee on property of this nature will be final.

WHO SHALL BE MEMBERS OF COMMITTEES, AND INSPECTORS.

SEC. 27. The designation of the traveling examiners of the Auditor and of the Treasurer as inspectors under the provisions of this act is hereby authorized. No person shall be eligible to appointment as a member of a committee, or as an inspector, under the provisions of this act, who is not employed in the Insular or Provincial government service in an official or clerical capacity, except as provided by section 9 in the case of the property for which a person deceased was accountable.

ORDNANCE, ORDNANCE STORES, ETC.

SEC. 28. Ordnance and ordnance stores which are now or may hereafter become the property of the government of the Archipelago, and supplies and equipment for the Insular Constabulary purchased from Insular revenues, shall be accounted for to the Auditor under such regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as the Auditor may prescribe.

APPLICATION OF ACT.

SEC. 29. The provisions of this act shall apply to all property heretofore received, purchased, transferred or found at stations, for which returns have not been rendered, and shall embrace property belonging to the Insular government, to the various Provincial governments, and to the city of Manila.

SEC. 30. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900, SEC. 31. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, August 31, 1901.

[No. 216.]

AN ACT providing for the disposition of fees received by Provincial Treasurers in performing the duties of Registrar of Property, and of Clerks of Courts for performing the duties of Notary Public.

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

SECTION 1. All fees received by Provincial Treasurers for performing the duties of Registrars of Property for the province, in accordance with sub-section H, of section 9, of Act No. 133 amending the Provincial Government Act, shall belong to the Provincial Government, and the additional clerical force, if any, needed for the performance of such duties, shall be paid from the Provincial Treasury.

SEC. 2. All fees received by Clerks of Courts for the performance of the duties of notaries public, in accordance with Act No. 162, shall be paid into the Insular Treasury, like other fees collected by Clerks of Courts. The clerical force of the office of Clerks of Courts shall be available to assist the Clerks in the performance of their duties as notaries public, in the same manner as in the performance of their other duties.

SEC. 3. A Provincial Treasurer, in the performance of the duties of Registrar of Property, shall be entitled to the legal advice of the Provincial Fiscal. A Clerk of a Court of First Instance outside the city of Manila, shall be entitled to receive the advice of the Provincial Fiscal, in the performance of his duties as ex-officio notary public. Clerks of Courts within the city of Manila shall be entitled to receive the advice of the City Attorney, in the performance of their duties as ex-officio notaries public.

SEC. 4. Fees collected prior to the passage of this act of the kind described in sections 1 and 2 by the Provincial Treasurers and Clerks

of Courts respectively, shall belong to the officers collecting them, but the additional clerical force heretofore required for the work of the Provincial Treasurers as Registrars and such ex-officio notaries shall be paid from the fees so collected.

SEC. 5. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 6. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, September 2, 1901.

[No. 217.]

AN ACT amending act No. 198 regulating the method of official transportation in the city of Manila and elsewhere.

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

SECTION 1. Act No. 198 is hereby amended as follows:

By substituting in the first line of section 1 the words "first of October, 1901," in place of the words "first of September, 1901;" by substituting in the first and second lines of section 3 the words "October first" in place of the words "September first."

SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. Enacted, September 2, 1901.

[No. 218.]

AN ACT creating a Bureau of Public Lands.

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

SECTION 1. There is hereby created under the Department of the Interior an Insular Bureau of Public Lands which shall have charge of all of the public domain of the government of the Philippine Islands, except so far as control thereof may be necessary to the functions of the Forestry and Mining Bureaus which shall not be affected by this act. Under the supervision of the Bureau of Public Lands shall be executed all instruments for the sale or conveyance of the public lands when authorized by law.

SEC. 2. There shall be a Chief of the Bureau of Public Lands who shall receive an annual salary of three thousand, two hundred dollars ($3,200) payable monthly in money of the United States.

SEC. 3. The duties of the Chief of the Bureau of Public Lands shall be:

1. To collect and safely keep all existing Spanish records relating to the public lands or their conveyances.

2. After due consideration to submit to the Philippine Commission a plan for the organization of the bureau framed as nearly as may be after the organization of the Public Land Office in the United States with such variations as may be required by the differing conditions having regard to the former land system under the Spanish sovereignty and also a plan for the general survey of the public lands.

3. To supervise the surveys of all public lands that may be required by law.

4. To cause an investigation to be made as to the extent and quality of the public lands in all the islands of the Archipelago and to report the same to the head of the department.

5. To discharge all other duties in connection with the public lands assigned to him by the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 4. There shall be a Chief Clerk of the Bureau of Public Lands of class 7.

SEC. 5. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 6. This act shall take effect on its passage. Enacted, September 2, 1901.

[No. 219.]

AN ACT authorizing the Collector of Customs of the Islands to select a responsible person or company, of good character, to land passengers and their baggage from incoming ships.

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

SECTION 1. The Collector of Customs of the Islands and of the Chief Port is hereby authorized to select one person to do all the business of landing for hire at the port of Manila from incoming ships, passengers and baggage at reasonable rates, and to issue an exclusive license authorizing such traffic to the person so selected for the period of one year.

SEC. 2. The person shall be selected after the Collector of Customs shall have advertised for bids of the prices at which the work of landing will be done, the bids to cover the cost of landing passengers per person and luggage per piece, large and small. The person offering to do the work at the lowest prices, who shall be, in the opinion of the Collector, of good character and responsible, shall be selected. The person so selected shall, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, enter into a bond to the Philippine Government for the benefit of whom it may concern, that he will acquire a sufficient equipment of launches and other means of conveniently landing passengers and baggage, that he will land all the passengers and all the baggage required during the entire years following the execution of the bond and that he will promptly pay all losses of baggage or other property accruing to the passengers through negligence in performing the contract, the amount and liability therefor to be finally determined by the Collector of Customs, provided that nothing herein shall exclude the right of