has the honor to report it back to the Commission with the following recommendation, viz: Your committee thinks it inadvisable to take any action on this matter at this time. Respectfully submitted. To the Honorable, C. B. ELLIOTT, Committee on Matters Pertaining to the the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION. The report was adopted. EXECUTIVE SESSION. The Commission then proceeded to the consideration of executive business. After the consideration of executive business, the Commission returned to regular session. ADJOURNMENT. Thereupon, at 10 o'clock and 55 minutes antemeridian, On motion by Commissioner Branagan, The Commission adjourned to meet at 10 o'clock and 30 minutes antemeridian on Thursday, November 2, 1911. Attest: GEO. C. SCHWEICKERT, Secretary. Second Philippine Legislature. Second Session. JOURNAL OF THE COMMISSION. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1911. The Commission met pursuant to adjournment. Present: Commissioners Gilbert, Luzuriaga, Araneta, Palma, Sumulong, Branagan, and Elliott (after roll call). Absent: The President, and Commissioner Worcester (on official business). Commissioner Gilbert in the chair. READING OF JOURNAL. The Journal of Wednesday, November 1, 1911, was read and approved. MESSAGE FROM THE ASSEMBLY. NOVEMBER 1, 1911. MR. PRESIDENT: I have been directed to inform your honorable body that the Assembly on November 1, 1911, passed the following bill (A. B. No. 620), in which it requests the concurrence of the Commission: An Act appropriating the sum of twenty-five thousand pesos for providing the public schools with copies of an adequate biography of Doctor José Rizal. Very respectfully, To the Honorable, RAMÓN DIOKNO, Secretary, Philippine Assembly. the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION Assembly Bill No. 620 was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Public Instruction for report and recommendation. Commissioner Elliott entered the Session Chamber during the reading of the bill. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEE. [Committee Report No. 253.] MR. PRESIDENT: The Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of the Interior, to which was referred on October 17, 1911, a petition regarding the cedula tax in the provinces of Mindoro and Palawan, has examined the same and has the honor to report it back to the Commission with the following recommendation, viz: Your Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of the Interior has transmitted a somewhat similar petition from the inhabitants of Mindoro, with an expression of opinion to the effect that if the people of Mindoro are willing to pay the additional taxes they should be given the opportunity to do so, but as the agitation for a reduction of taxes in Mindoro and Palawan was first voiced in the lower House, it would, in the opinion of the undersigned, be well for any amendatory legislation deemed necessary to originate there. Your committee recommends specifically that the request embodied in paragraph one of the inclosed petition be denied. The necessity for the establishment of means of communication in the Province of Palawan is very great. The funds accruing and available for this purpose under the present arrangement are extremely inadequate and should not be reduced; that the request embodied in paragraph two be denied for the same reason; and that the request in paragraph three be complied with by reimposing the cedula tax. Respectfully submitted. To the Honorable, DEAN C. WORCESTER, Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of the Interior the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION. On motion by Commissioner Araneta, the report was received and laid on the table. [Committee Report No. 254.] MR. PRESIDENT: The Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of the Interior, to which was referred on October 17, 1911, a resolution of the provincial board of Ilocos Sur, No. 181, petitioning that homestead applications be referred to the municipal council of the municipality wherein the land is situated for their report regarding claims to the land, has examined the same and has the honor to report it back to the Commission with the following recommendation, viz: Your committee has the honor to invite attention to the accom panying indorsement of the Director of Lands and to the recommended disapproval of this request. It is not apparent to your committee that the desired result could be obtained by the passing of a concurrent resolution of both Houses of the Philippine Legislature, and in the opinion of your committee, it would not be wise in any event to impose the suggested regulation for the reason that the attitude in many instances adopted toward homesteaders by municipal officials has been such as to render the statement of such officials relative to homestead applications, open to doubt. Respectfully submitted. To the Honorable, DEAN C. WORCESTER, Committee on Matters Pertaining to the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION. The indorsement of the Director of Lands, referred to in the foregoing report, is as follows: The attached resolution apparently gives good and sufficient reasons why same should be favorably considered by the Legislature, but the experience of the Bureau of Lands has been to the effect that under no circumstances should the municipalities be given any power of intervention in the matter of the administration of the public lands of the Philippine Islands. Many municipal officials are land owners, and it is to their interest to see that their lands are worked by the poorer classes, and nearly every homestead application means a deduction of at least one person from the available labor of these officials. The Bureau has specific cases from the Province of Ilocos Sur. One of these came from the municipality of San Esteban. Voluminous protests were sent in by the municipal council against the homestead application. Some of these protests were sent to the Bureau of Lands, others to the Secretary of the Interior. Investigations were made, and even the provincial governor was drawn into the opposition. The protests were on the ground that, first, the land had been occupied for a long period of years; second, to allow it to be taken up under a homestead would deprive many people of necessary water to irrigate their farms. Investigation showed that there was not a shadow of foundation for any protest. The land was not occupied, never had been, and there was not sufficient water to irrigate the homestead, much less to irrigate any other land. Numerous investigations have been made in Ilocos Sur relative to protests filed on the ground that the claimants held possessory information. In the majority of these cases not only is it impossible to locate the land from the description contained in the documents, but even the claimants themselves cannot identify the land supposed to be covered by their titles. In every case where a claimant can identify his land his rights have been preserved. There is no necessity for any law suits because when a claimant can make any reasonable showing as to rights of possession he can perfect his title in the Court of Land Registration; and if he has not the means to do that, he has the right to homestead. Section 70 of the Public Land Act very fully covers the matter of the administration of the public lands. Any complaints presented to the Bureau of Lands will always receive a full and fair hearing without advice from municipal councils. The report was adopted. REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE. [Committee Report No. 255.] MR. PRESIDENT: Your select committee of two, to which was referred on October 16, 1911, that portion of the Governor-General's message to the Legislature recommending that provision be made for a general survey, has examined the same and has the honor to report it back to the Commission with the following recommendation, viz: That the accompanying bill be passed. DEAN C. WORCESTER, Committee. To the Honorable, the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION. The report was adopted, and the following bill accompanying same was taken up and considered: Commission Bill No. 124. An Act providing certain special proceedings for the settlement and adjudication of land titles. By unanimous consent, Commission Bill No. 124 was read the first and second times by title only and referred to the Committee of the Whole. It was considered in committee and reported back to the Commission with the recommendation that it pass. The report and recommendation of the Committee of the Whole were adopted, and the bill ordered on file for third reading. INTRODUCTION OF BILLS. Commissioner Elliott introduced the following bills: Commission Bill No. 125. An Act making it unlawful, without authority from the Director of Navigation, to establish, erect, or maintain in the navigable waters of the Philippine Islands, any light |