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 judg ment 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

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 rein 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 claimsto 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

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 mineral 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.

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 rested 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,

priority of possession and improvement, followed by proper filing and continued good faith, shall determine the preference right to purchase. And also where improvements have already been made prior to the passage of this act, division of the land claimed may be made by legal subdivisions, which shall conform as nearly as practicable with the subdivisions of land under the United States system of publicland surveys, to include as near as may be the valuable improvements of the respective parties. The United States Philippine Commission, or its successors, are authorized to issue all needful rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this and the four preceding sections.

SEC. 32. Salt and saline lands.-Whenever it shall be made to appear to the secretary of any province in the Philippine Islands, or, if there is no provincial secretary, to the adjutant-general of the commander of the military department including any province, that any lands within the province or department are saline in character, it shall be the duty of said provincial secretary or adjutant-general, under the regulations of the United States Philippine Commission, or its successors, to take testimony in reference to such lands, to ascertain their true character, and to report the same to the secretary of the interior for the Philippine Islands; and if, upon such testimony, the secretary of the interior shall find that such lands are saline and incapable of being purchased under any of the laws relative to the public domain, then and in such case said lands shall be offered for sale at the office of the provincial secretary or adjutant-general of the province or department in which the same shall be situated, as the case may be, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the United States Philippine Commission, or its successors, and sold to the highest bidder, for cash, at a price of not less than one dollar and twenty cents per acre; and in case such lands fail to sell when so offered, then the same shall be subject to private sale at such office, for cash, at a price not less than one dollar and twenty cents per acre, in the same manner as other lands in the Philippine Islands are sold. All executive proclamations relating to the sales of public saline lands shall be published in only two newspapers, one printed in the English language and one in the Spanish language, at Manila, which shall be designated by the secretary of the interior.

SEC. 33. Grants of lands to provinces or corporations not to include mineral lands.-No act granting lands to provinces or corporations to aid in the construction of roads, or for other purposes, shall be so construed as to embrace mineral lands, which, in all cases, are reserved exclusively, unless otherwise specially provided in the act or acts making the grant.

SEC. 34. Perfected Spanish concessions.-Nothing in this act shall be construed to affect the rights of any person, partnership, or corporation, having a valid perfected mining concession granted prior to April 11, 1899, but all such concessions shall be conducted under the provisions of the law in force at the time they were granted, subject at all times to cancellation by reason of illegality in the procedure by which they were obtained, or for failure to comply with the conditions prescribed as requisite to their retention in the laws under which they were granted: Provided, That the owner or owners of every such concession shall cause the corners made by its boundaries to be distinctly marked with permanent monuments within ninety days after this act has been promulgated in the Philippine Islands, and that any concessions the boundaries of which are not so marked within this period shall be free and open to exploration and purchase under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 35. Mining rights acquired only under this act henceforth.—Mining rights on public lands in the Philippine Islands shall, after the passage of this act, be acquired only in accordance with its provisions.

SEC. 36. The Commission empowered to establish a mining bureau.—The United States Philippine Commission, or its successors, are hereby empowered to establish a mining bureau, which shall discharge the duties prescribed for the "Inspección de Minas by the laws in force in the Philippine Islands prior to April 11, 1899, with reference to all perfected Spanish concessions, and shall discharge such further duties, not in conflict with the provisions of this act, with reference to the mineral wealth and the development of the mining industry in the Philippine Islands, as the United States Philippine Commission, or its successors, may provide: Provided, That all proceedings for the cancellation of perfected Spanish concessions shall be conducted in the courts of the Philippine Islands having jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the parties, unless the United States Philippine Commission, or its successors, shall create special tribunals for the determination of such controversies.

SEC. 37. When act takes effect.-This act shall take effect on its passage.