Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

154

REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

between vertical planes drawn downward as above described, through the end lines of their locations, so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges: Provided, That in working a blanket ledge the locator or possessor of a mining claim shall be restricted to that portion of such ledge which lies inside of the surface lines of the claim extended downward vertically. And nothing in this section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends in its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed by another.

SEC. 6. Owners of tunnels, rights of.-Where a tunnel is run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on the line thereof, not previously known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if discovered from the surface; and locations on the line of such tunnel of veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made by other parties after the commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence, shall be invalid; but failure to prosecute the work on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel.

SEC. 7. Regulations made by the United States Philippine Commission or its successors.— The United States Philippine Commission or its successors may make regulations, not in conflict with the provisions of this act, governing the location, manner of recording and amount of work necessary to hold possession of a mining claim, subject to the following requirements: The location must be distinctly marked on the ground, so that its boundaries can be readily traced. All records of mining claims hereafter made shall contain the name or names of locators, the date of location, and such a description of the claim or claims located, by reference to some natural object or permanent monument, as will identify the claim. On each claim located after the passage of this act, and until a patent has been issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year: Provided, That where a person or company has or may run a tunnel for the purpose of developing a lode or lodes owned by said person or company, the money so expended in said tunnel shall be taken and considered as expended on said lode or lodes, and such person or company shall not be required to perform work on the surface of said lode or lodes in order to hold the same. Where such claims are held in common, such expenditure may be made upon any one claim; and upon a failure to comply with these conditions the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be open to relocation in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made, provided that the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives have not resumed work upon the claim after failure and before such location. Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners to contribute his proportion of the expenditures required thereby, the co-owners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim, and in two newspapers published at Manila, one in the English language and the other in the Spanish language, to be designated by the chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands, for at least once a week for ninety days; and if, at the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication, such delinquent shall fail or refuse to contribute his proportion of the expenditure required by this section, his interest in the claim shall become the property of his co-owners who have made the required expenditures. The period within which the work required to be done annually on all unpatented mineral claims shall commence on the first day of January succceding the date of location of such claim.

SEC. 8. Patents for mineral lands, how obtained.-A patent for any land claimed and located for valuable mineral deposits may be obtained in the following manner: Any person, association, or corporation authorized to locate a claim under this act, having claimed and located a piece of land for such purposes, who has or have complied with the terms of this act, may file in the office of the provincial secretary of the province wherein the land claimed is located, or, if there is no provincial secretary, in the office of the adjutant-general of the commander of the military department wherein such land is located, an application for a patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together with a plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common, made by or under the direction of the chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands, showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat previous to the filing of the application for a patent, and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of the notice in such office, and shall thereupon be entitled to a

REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

155 patent for the land, in the manner following: The provincial secretary or adjutantgeneral, upon the filing of such application, plat, field notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such an application has been made, once a week for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as nearest to such claim and in two newspapers published at Manila, one in the English language and one in the Spanish language, to be designated by the chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands, and he shall also post such notice in his office for the same period. The claimant at the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within the sixty days of publication, shall file with the provincial secretary or adjutant-general a certificate of the chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands that five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended or improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors, that the plat is correct, with such further description by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate description, to be incorporated in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of publication the claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the provincial secretary or adjutant-general at the expiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the provincial treasurer or the collector of internal revenue of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim exists, and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms of this act: Provided, That where the claimant for a patent is not a resident of or within the province or military department wherein the vein, ledge, or deposit sought to be patented is located, the application for patent and the affidavits required to be made in this section by the claimant for such patent may be made by his, her, or its authorized agent, where said agent is conversant with the facts sought to be established by said affidavits.

SEC. 9. Affidavit of citizenship or nationality, before whom made.-Applicants for mineral patents, if residing beyond the limits of the province or military department wherein the claim is situated, may make any oath or affidavit required for proof of citizenship before the clerk of any court of record or before any notary public of any province or military department of the Philippine Islands, or any other official authorized by law to administer oaths.

SEC. 10. Adverse claim, proceedings on.-Where an adverse claim is filed during the period of publication it shall be upon oath of the person or persons making the same, and shall show the nature, boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim, and all proceedings, except the publication of notice and making and filing of the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the controversy shall have been settled or decided by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse claimant, within thirty days after filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction to determine the question of the right of possession, and prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final judgment; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. After such judgment shall have been rendered the party entitled to the possession of the claim, or any portion thereof, may, without giving further notice, file a certified copy of the judgment roll with the provincial secretary or adjutant-general of the commander of the military department, as the case may be, together with the certificate of the chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands that the requisite amount of labor has been expended or improvements made thereon, and the description required in other cases, and shall pay to the provincial treasurer or the collector of internal revenue of the province in which the claim is situated, as the case may be, five dollars per acre for his claim, together with the proper fees, whereupon the whole proceedings and the judgment roll shall be certified by the provincial secretary or adjutant-general of the commander of the military department, as the case may be, to the secretary of the interior for the Philippine Islands, and a patent shall issue thereon for the claim, or such portion thereof as the applicant shall appear, from the decision of the court, rightly to possess. The adverse claim may be verified by the oath of any duly authorized agent or attorney in fact of the adverse claimant cognizant of the facts stated; and the adverse claimant, if residing, or at the time being, beyond the limits of the province or military department wherein the claim is situated, may make oath to the adverse claim before the clerk of any court of record or any notary public of any province or military department of the Philippine Islands, or any other officer authorized to administer oaths where the adverse claimant may then be. If it appears from the decision of the court that several parties are entitled to separate and different portions of the claim, each party may pay for his portion of the claim with the proper fees, and file the certificate and description by the chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands, whereupon the provincial secretary or

156

REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

adjutant-general of the commander of the military department, as the case may be, shall certify the proceedings and judgment roll to the secretary of the interior for the Philippine Islands, as in the preceding case, and patents shall issue to the several parties according to their respective rights. If in any action brought pursuant to this section title to the ground in controversy shall not be established by either party, the court shall so find, and judgment shall be entered accordingly. In such case costs shall not be allowed to either party, and the claimant shall not proceed in the office of the provincial secretary or adjutant-general of the commander of the military department, as the case may be, or be entitled to a patent for the ground in controversy until he shall have perfected his title. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the alienation of a title conveyed by a patent for a mining claim to any person whatever.

SEC. 11. Description of vein claims on surveyed and unsurveyed lands.-The description of vein or lode claims upon unsurveyed lands shall designate the location of the claim with reference to the lines of the public surveys, but need not conform therewith; but where a patent shall be issued for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands, in extending the surveys, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of such patented claim according to the plat or description thereof, but so as in no case to interfere with or change the location of any such patented claim.

SEC. 12. Conformity of placer claims to surveys―Limit of placer claims.-Claims usually called "placers," including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under like circumstances and conditions and upon similar proceedings as are provided for vein or lode claims; but where the lands have been previously surveyed by governmental authority the entry in its exterior limits shall conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands.

SEC. 13. Entry of lands valuable for building stone.-Any person authorized to enter lands under this act may enter and obtain patent to lands that are chiefly valuable for building stone under the provisions of this act relative to placer-mineral claims. SEC. 14. Entry of lands containing petroleum or other mineral oils.—Any person authorized to enter lands under this act may enter and obtain patent to lands containing petroleum or other mineral oils, and chiefly valuable therefor, under the provisions of this act relative to placer-mineral claims.

SEC. 15. Maximum of placer location.-No location of a placer claim shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any association of persons, irrespective of the number of persons composing such association, and no such location shall include more than twenty acres for an individual claimant. Such locations shall conform to the laws of the United States Philippine Commission or its successors with reference to public surveys, and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide ownership of land for agricultural purposes or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser.

SEC. 16. Conformity of placer claims to surveys.-Where placer claims are upon surveyed lands and conform to legal subdivisions no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims located after the date of passage of this act shall conform as nearly as practicable with the Philippine system of public-land surveys and the regular subdivisions of such surveys; but where placer claims can not be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands; and where by the segregation of mineral lands in any legal subdivision a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres shall remain such fractional portion of agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified by law for homestead purposes.

SEC. 17. Evidence of possession and working that is necessary to establish a right to a patent. Where such person or association, they and their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations of the Philippine Islands, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under this act, in the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing in this act shall be deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to the issuance of a patent.

SEC. 18. Proceedings for patent for placer claim—Placer claims embracing lode claims.— Where the same person, association, or corporation is in possession of a placer claim and also a vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof, application shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case a patent shall issue for the placer claim, subject to the provisions of this act, including such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim, or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as is described in sec

REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

157

tion three, is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim which does not include an application for the vein or lode claim shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral or other deposits within the boundaries thereof.

SEC. 19. Chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands to appoint deputy mineral surveyors.-The chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands may appoint as many competent deputy miner al surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or lode claims and of the survey of placer claims, together with the cost of publication of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be at liberty to employ any deputy mineral surveyor to make the survey. The chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands shall also have power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices under this act; and in case of excessive charges for publication, he may designate any newspaper published in a province or military department where mines are situated, or in Manila, for the publication of mining notices, and fix the rates to be charged by such paper, and to the end that the chief of the bureau of public lands may be fully informed on the subject, such applicant shall file with the provincial secretary or adjutant-general, as the case may be, a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by such applicant for publication and surveys, and of all fees and money paid the provincial treasurer or the collector of internal revenue, as the case may be, which statement shall be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the secretary of the interior for the Philippine Islands.

SEC. 20. Verification of affidavits.-Contests as to mineral or agricultural character of land.-All affidavits required to be made under this act may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the province or military department where the claims may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer, and, when duly certified by the officer taking the same, shall have the same force and effect as if taken before the proper provincial secretary or adjutantgeneral. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken as herein provided on personal notice of at least ten days to the opposing party; or if such party can not be found, then by publication of at least once a week for thirty days in a newspaper, to be designated by the provincial secretary or the adjutant-general of the military department, as the case may be, as published nearest to the location of such land, and in two newspapers published at Manila, one in the English language and one in the Spanish language, to be designated by the chief of the Philippine insular bureau of public lands; and the provincial secretary or adjutant-general of the military department shall require proofs that such notice has been given.

SEC. 21. Intersecting veins.—When two or more veins intersect or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained within the space of intersection; but the subsequent location shall have the right of way through the space of intersection for the purposes of the convenient working of the mine. And where two or more veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein below the point of union, including all the space of intersection.

SEC. 22. Patents for nonmineral lands.—Mill sites.-Where nonmineral land not contiguous to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such nonadjacent surface ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable to veins or lodes; but no location of such nonadjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this act for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill site, as provided in this section.

SEC. 23. Conditions of sale that may be made by the United States Philippine Commission, or its successors.-As a condition of sale, the United States Philippine Commission, or its successors, may provide rules for working, policing, and sanitation of mines, and rules concerning easements, drainage, water rights, right of way, right of government survey and inspection, and other necessary means to their complete development not inconsistent with the provisions of this act; and those conditions shall be fully expressed in the patent. The Commission is hereby further empowered to fix the bonds of deputy mineral surveyors.

158

REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

SEC. 24. Vested rights to use of water.—Right of way for canals and ditches.-Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes, have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same; and the right of way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage.

SEC. 25. Patents subject to vested and accrued water rights.-All patents granted shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been acquired under or recognized by the preceding section.

SEC. 26. Land districts and officers, power of Commission to provide.—The United States Philippine Commission, or its successors, are authorized to establish land districts and provide for the appointment of the necessary officers wherever they may deem the same necessary for the public convenience, and to further provide that in districts where land offices are established, proceedings required by this act to be had before provincial or military officers, shall be had before the proper officers of such land offices.

SEC. 27. Entry of coal lands.-Every person above the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, a native of the Philippine Islands, or who has acquired the rights of a native of the Philippine Islands under and by virtue of the treaty of Paris, or any association of persons severally qualified as above, shall, upon application to the proper provincial treasurer or adjutant-general, have the right to enter any quantity of vacant coal lands of the Philippine Islands, not otherwise appropriated or reserved by competent authority, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to such individual person, or three hundred and twenty acres to such association, upon payment to the provincial treasurer or the collector of internal revenue, as the case may be, of not less than ten dollars per acre for such lands, where the same shall be situated more than fifteen miles from any completed railroad or available harbor or navigable stream, and not less than twenty dollars per acre for such lands as shall be within fifteen miles of such road, harbor, or stream: Provided, That such entries shall be taken in squares of forty or one hundred and sixty acres in conformity with the rules and regulations governing the public-land surveys of the United States in plotting legal subdivisions.

SEC. 28. Preemption of coal lands.-Any person or association of persons severally qualified as above provided, who have opened and improved, or shall hereafter open and improve, any coal mine or mines upon the public lands, and shall be in actual possession of the same, shall be entitled to a preference right of entry under the preceding section of the mines so opened and improved: Provided, That when any association of not less than four persons, severally qualified as above provided, shall have expended not less than five thousand dollars in working and improving any such mine or mines, such association may enter not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, including such mining improvements.

SEC. 29. Preemption claims of coal lands to be presented within sixty days.—All claims under the preceding section must be presented to the proper provincial secretary or adjutant-general within sixty days after the date of actual possession and the commencement of improvements on the land, by the filing of a declaratory statement therefor; and where the improvements shall have been made prior to the expiration of three months from the date of the passage of this act, sixty days from the expiration of such three months shall be allowed for the filing of a declaratory statement, and no sale under the provisions of this act shall be allowed until the expiration of six months from the date of the passage of this act.

SEC. 30. Only one entry allowed.-The three preceding sections shall be held to authorize only one entry by the same person or association of persons; and no association of persons, any member of which shall have taken the benefit of such sections, either as an individual or as a member of any other association, shall enter or hold any other lands under the provisions thereof; and no member of any association which shall have taken the benefit of such section shall enter or hold any other lands under their provisions; and all persons claiming under section twentyeight shall be required to prove their respective rights and pay for the lands filed upon within one year from the time prescribed for filing their respective claims; and upon failure to file the proper notice or to pay for the land within the required period, the same shall be subject to entry by any other qualified applicant.

SEC. 31. Conflicting claims.-In case of conflicting claims upon coal lands where the improvements shall be commenced after the date of the passage of this act,

« ZurückWeiter »