wards. There seemed to be no clue to the murderers at the time, but recently we received information that we believe to be accurate that they came from a certain outlying rancheria of Quiangan, and that it was the work of two certain individuals. This information is being followed up, and it is hoped will result in the arrest of the guilty parties.

In May a party of Ilongotes from Payupay, in Isabela, attacked the Ilongote rancheria of Kong-Kong, this province, killing 4 persons, and, shortly prior thereto, one Gago, leader of this same band of Payupay Ilongotes, killed and decapitated a woman of an outlying barrio of Solano, and, as we afterwards discovered, was concerned, on February 2 last, with Ilongotes from the rancheria of Uigi, this province, in the killing of two men of Solano, who were killed with arrows within 2 miles of Solano.

This entire band of 13 Ílongotes of Payupay were apprehended in June by the constabulary, and the evidence against them was conclusive. They were being held in the provincial jail, when shortly after midnight on June 28 they all made their escape, but, being closely pursued, in attempting to cross the Magat River in an unfavorable place, it is believed all were drowned, as 8 of their bodies were found, and we have been unable to hear of the escape of any.

The foregoing include all the cases of taking of Christian heads by the tribes during the year, and prior thereto no Christian natives had been murdered for a considerable time. The activity that has been shown by constabulary and provincial officials in tracing down the authors of these killings is well known to the Igorrotes and Ilongotes, and will undoubtedly tend to prevent other cases. It must not be forgotten though that the instinct to take a head when a good opportunity offers can not always be resisted by the Igorrotes or Ilongotes. This is a sort of religious mania, and cases may occur at any time in the future, as they have in the past, as long as the Igorrotes and Ibilaos remain wild tribes, in spite of all possible vigilance. I intend in the near future to forward a special report on the Ibilaos (Ilongotes) of this province, with certain recommendations, which report would be too long to incorporate here.

In conclusion, I wish to urge again that the men of our constabulary now on detached service out of the province be returned at the earliest possible date, and that no reduction in the authorized constabulary strength be made in the near future, but rather an increase to at least 200 men. Respectfully submitted.

The GOVERNOR-GENERAL, Manila, P. I.

LOUIS G. KNIGHT, Governor of Nueva Vizcaya.

REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF PALAWAN,

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF PALAWAN,
Cuyo, Palawan, July 15, 1905.

SIR: In compliance with Act No. 1044 of the Philippine Commission, I have the honor to submit the following report of the conditions in the province of Palawan for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905:

The name of the province was changed from Paragua to Palawan on June 28, 1905, by Act No. 1363 of the Philippine Commission.

Health conditions have been good during the year. No epidemics have entered the boundaries of the province. No locusts or rinderpest or other pests have appeared during the year.

The crops throughout the southern part of the province were good. In the northern part (northern Palawan, Dumaron, and the Calimianes) the rice crop was poor, causing some suffering, but no part of the province has been forced to ask assistance from the outside. Considerable numbers of cattle and carabao have been shipped from the Calimianes, Dumaron, and the Cuyos groups to other provinces that have been devastated by rinderpest. This and the export of timber and secondary forest products (gums, resins, beeswax, bejuco, and tan and dye bark) from the island of Palawan has kept up a steady inflow of goods and money.

An effort is being made to introduce into the province the raising of abaca, maguey, and rubber, the raising of which I believe can be followed to good advantage in various parts of Palawan and the Cuyos groups.

Fair progress can be reported for the work of education in the province. The schools of Cuyo and Puerto Princesa have shown good progress, and it is my intention to bring all the American teachers to these two points and, in the intermediate and secondary schools at Cuyo and the agricultural and manual training school that I hope to be able to start soon at Puerto Princesa, prepare teachers who eventually

will fill the positions as teachers in the isolated towns and barrios. Four thousand pesos appropriated by Act No. 1318 has been assigned to this province for the construction of an intermediate and secondary school building at Cuyo. This amount is not sufficient to build such a building as is needed for provincial and municipal, high, and intermediate school purposes at Cuyo, but it is hoped that enough municipal assistance will be received to assure a suitable building. Act No. 1361 of the Philippine Commission appropriated 1,660 for the equipment of an agricultural and industrial school at Puerto Princesa, which together with the agricultural equipment that has been received and the wood and iron working equipment that has been promised by the Bureau of Education, and a suitable building that has become available for industrial school purposes at that place, I hope to have a good start in agricultural and industrial work by the end of the calendar year 1905. I believe that every effort should be made to encourage an interest in this class of instruction. The Filipino, more than a highly educated mind that will keep him from working, needs to be encouraged to secure knowledge and practice of how to do things that will bring him a better living in a better manner.

It is very difficult to secure properly trained Filipino teachers, who are badly needed to teach in the isolated towns and barrios. It is necessary to bring children from those places who, after attending school two or three years, will be willing to return to their homes as teachers. In Puerto Princesa several promising boys have been brought from the distant barrios, their expenses being paid by the municipality, on the condition that at the end of two years in school they will return to their home barrio as teachers.

The province received during the past year P10,000 as an appropriation for running expenses from the insular treasury. Every precaution has been used to have this amount, together with the amount received from the internal revenue, satisfy the needs of the province. As a result, when all the outstanding indebtedness to June 30, 1905, is paid, the provincial treasury will be empty.

The municipalities with the exception of Cagayancillo are self-supporting, and at the beginning of the fiscal year all of them had good balances on hand. These balances have all diminished, due to the internal-revenue law. Heretofore under Act No. 387 all of the property, cedula, and one-half of the industrial tax was turned into the municipal treasury, and, although these municipalities are sparsely populated, these revenues gave ample funds to support the municipalities; but under the working of the internal-revenue law, where the industrial tax is done away with and only a small return is received by the municipalities from the internal-revenue license refunds and one-half of the cedula receipts go to the provincial treasury, it leaves the municipalities in straitened circumstances. However, this condition will be relieved if the article in the proposed act to take the place of the Nueva Vizcayan Act No. 387, that will authorize a poll or public-works tax that can be commuted in labor on public improvements, is passed and put into force within a short time.

It will be necessary to discontinue the municipality of Cagayancillo as an organized municipality. In this municipality the people are all poor, and all of the land is held in common. Consequently there is no property tax collected. There are no stores or industries except farming and fishing; hence no license taxes, and the P500 that are collected for cedulas, and which formerly all went to the support of the municipality, are now divided, and the one-half that is paid into the municipal treasury is not sufficient to support a town run on a small scale. It is suggested that this municipality be placed directly under the provincial board as an independent barrio, with a vice-presidente in charge. Balabac and adjacent islands have been organized as an independent barrio, and is self-supporting.

Owing to ignorance on the part of the justices of the peace and the fact that there was no way to keep track of the actions of the native justices, justice was badly administered until by Act No. 1293 the provincial governor was made justice of the peace throughout the entire province.

Crime can be almost ignored. There have been very few cases during the year. Two municipal officials have been suspended for bribery and illegal exactions. One of these has been convicted, and the other is still awaiting trial. Several other cases of little importance have been tried by the court of first instance.

I would suggest that inasmuch as the provincial governor is also justice of the peace for the entire province, that he be given greater limits in the trial and deciding of both civil and criminal cases-say, in criminal cases to a maximum punishment of two years' imprisonment and a fine of P1,000, and in civil cases to cases involving 5,000-or, if such could be done, give the provincial governor the same power in the trial of cases as the court of first instance within the province, said power to be subject to the approval and supervision of a judge of the court of first instance, to whom all cases should be forwarded for revision.

WAR 1905-VOL 10-25

This matter is respectfully suggested to you for the following reasons:

1. The province is scattered over an immense area and a large number of islands, and the people are, with very few exceptions, poor.

2. Cases at present requiring trial by the court of first instance at its infrequent sessions within the province require that the accused await trial from six months to one year, and then if, because of bad weather or other unpreventable reasons, the witnesses can not arrive at the session of court during the two or three days' duration of the session or until the boat on which the judge comes is ready to leave and take him away again the case must be laid aside until some future session of the court, and the accused must remain in jail unconvicted another six months or a year. 3. Cases should be investigated and tried at the places at which they arise and as soon after the crime is committed as is possible. It is extremely difficult for witnesses to come from the far points of the province to give testimony before the court of first instance, and as the people are poor it works a great hardship on them to compel them to leave their homes and travel long distances to the place of holding court.

At the last session of court in Cuyo several witnesses were twenty-two days in a small panco coming from their home to Cuyo, then had to await the termination of the case in which their testimony was needed and make their way back home without any recompense for their time or services. These same men had made a similar trip to Cuyo last year in connection with the same case. If such cases could be tried where they originated the government would be saved large sums in costs, fees, etc.; the people would not lose their time or be taken from their homes; witnesses would be more willing to assist justice, and justice would not be defeated, as happens in many cases now.

4. The doing away with the necessity for the regular sessions of the court of first instance in this province, and having the work done as recommended heretofore, would cause a considerable saving to the government. For the last session of the court of first instance at Cuyo the cost to the government of the salaries and expenses of the judge, fiscal, stenographer, and interpreter from Capiz to Manila, awaiting a boat in Manila, traveling from Manila to Cuyo, and return to their station at Capiz at the close of the session, the cost to the insular government was about P5,000 to try one man. At this same session another criminal case could not be tried because the boat would not wait longer for the judge.

The Moros have been peaceful and quiet throughout the year. Dato Mohamud Battarassa returned from Jolo, and has better control of affairs in the Moro territory of southern Palawan than his subordinates had during his absence. In May, at Culasian, Dato Toni surrendered to me the remaining carbines and munitions left in his possession of those captured from the Forty-eighth Company, Philippine Scouts, in February, 1904.

Owing to the customs of the mountain tribes of Palawan (Palawanes, Battacs, and Tagbanuas), very little in the way of government could be done for them. However, they have been encouraged as much as possible to cultivate more land, to build better houses, and to keep their habitations in a better sanitary condition. Every effort is made to prevent their more intelligent neighbors from robbing them and imposing on their simplicity.

Great good has been done by the passing of Acts Nos. 1341 and 1354 of the Philippine Commission, in doing away with the necessity of licenses and entering and clearing of small boats. In a province such as Palawan, where the only highways are the rivers and the sea, the only way a producer can market his products is to take them to market in a boat. Every family should have a boat, where in another province they might have a carabao or horses. Many of the ignorant people did not have this vehicle (boat) because they were afraid they would get in trouble because of the vast amount of red tape in the licensing, entering, and clearing of even a small barota. Now all will be able to handle their small product unmolested.

Transportation matters still remain a serious hindrance to the development of Palawan. The coast guard cutter running to the province carries cargo and passengers, but the service is far from satisfactory. An arrangement with a commercial boat that would make regular trips through the province, doing both the private and government business, would be a great improvement over present conditions. I believe that a commercial boat could be induced to make this run, providing the insular government would contract to pay for the carrying of all mail and official passengers and freight such an amount as would, when added to the receipts from private business, give the boat a fair profit. This amount paid by the government could be considerably less than the cost of maintenance and the running expenses of the cutter now plying between Manila and Palawan ports.

A plentiful supply of labor can be found in Cuyo, and with proper handling this labor could be utilized in developing the rich tracts of agricultural lands in Palawan.

Better inducements in the way of increasing the amount of land allowed to an individual or corporation would, I think, induce the gradual opening up of much of the unoccupied land on the island of Palawan.

It has been necessary to contend with a number of deficiencies in the acts under which this province is administered (337 and 387), but with the corrections made during the past year, those now before the Commission, and the provisions of the proposed new Nueva Vizcayan act, I believe all the material changes that are needed will be made.

Respectfully submitted.

EDW. Y. MILLER,
First Lieutenant, Twenty-ninth U. S. Infantry,
Governor, Province of Palawan.

The GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS,

Manila, P. I.

REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF PAMPANGA.

OFFICE OF The Governor, PROVINCE OF PAMPANGA,
San Fernando, July 15, 1905.

SIR: I have the honor, in compliance with the provisions of Act No. 1044 of the Philippine Commission, to submit the following annual report for the fiscal year ended on the 30th of June, 1905:

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE PROVINCE.

According to the first number published of the Census of the Philippine Islands, Bulletin No. 1, the population of this province was computed at 222,656 inhabitants, distributed among the 16 municipalities as follows: Angeles, 10,646; Apalit, 12,206; Arayat, 18,436; Bacolor, 13,493; Candaba, 11,783; Floridablanca, 7,001; Guagua, 22,132; Lubao, 19,063; Mabalacat, 7,049; Macabebe, 21,481; Magalang, 8,516; Mexico, 13,469; Porac, 8,487; San Fernando, 24,109; San Luis, 16,841, and Santa Rita, 7,954.

The 17 municipalities of which the province was composed were reduced to 16 on account and by virtue of Act No. 1208, passed by the Philippine Commission, providing for the consolidation of the municipality of Santo Tomas with the municipality of San Fernando. This fusion took place on January 2, 1905, on which day the newly elected municipal officers took the oath of office, by virtue whereof the municipality of Santo Tomas was from that time on abolished.

In view of the desire of the majority of the people, which was favored by the action of the Philippine Commission in recommending one year before, guided by high motives and patriotic ends, that the capitals of provinces should be situated in centrally located and easily accessible places wherever practicable, the people of this province commenced, in harmony with this recommendation, to agitate again the idea of the transfer of the capital from Bacolor to San Fernando. Since nearly fifty years the conviction that the latter pueblo ought to be the capital of the province had been constantly growing. Its central location and its line of communication demanded it. However, on no other occasion prior to the present régime would it have been possible for the people to express freely their desires which, after having been heard, are immediately granted if found just. Thus, on August 15, 1904, the capital of Pampanga was officially transferred from Bacolor to San Fernando, in compliance with Act No. 1204, entitled “An act amending Act No. 85, extending the provisions of the provincial government act to the province of Pampanga, by changing the capital of that province from Bacolor to San Fernando." This change was received and considered by the province in general as the sign of a new era of greatness and prosperity.

The capital of Pampanga having been transferred to San Fernando, the court of first instance, the provincial jail, the office of the provincial board of health, and the headquarters of the Philippines Constabulary were likewise transferred to said town, but not the provincial normal school and the central post and telegraph office, because the same had been established at San Fernando from the beginning, a long time before the transfer of the capital took place.

The material change and removal of the capital-that is, of all its dependencies and offices-to another town 3 miles distant did not cause great difficulties and expense to the province, for the reason that several neighboring municipalities had

kindly offered to transport a part of the articles and furniture belonging to the province, and furnished for this purpose men, carabaos, and carts free of charge. Although no building was found in San Fernando sufficiently spacious and with the necessary conditions for the convenient installation therein of all the offices and dependencies of the government they were adequately installed in three rented buildings, one for the offices of the provincial government, another for the court of first instance, and another for the provincial jail, all these buildings being close to each other and situated in the same block. Recently another building has been rented for the office of the provincial board of health, the place formerly occupied by it having been ceded to the office of the provincial treasurer for the installation therein of additional offices for the recently created internal revenue office.

The province believes and is confident that it will be able to solve this difficulty of having to rent houses and having the several departments separated from each other within a not very remote time, and with this end in view it has set aside and appropriated a portion of its general funds wherewith to defray the expenses of the acquisition of a lot with an area of at least 12 or 14 hectares, and of the construction of a provincial government building, a provincial jail, a provincia! school, and other buildings of its own which it will need with the time.

As to public tranquility and order, the same have not been disturbed in the least, and the province is now enjoying their beneficent and salutary effects, and such peace and tranquillity now experienced has never been felt here before.

Not a single case of brigandage, cases of which unfortunately occur in other provinces among idle people of no known occupation and of evil lives, as a general rule, has been recorded in this province as is proven by the part of this report dealing with the various cases tried by and brought up before the court of first instance of Pampanga.

PUBLIC WORKS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

During the period covered by this report 6.26 miles of roads, 22 bridges and culverts, and 5 buildings have been constructed; 6.249 miles of roads, 6 bridges and culverts, and 13 buildings have been repaired; the dikes of the Rio Grande constructed last year have been reenforced; the public square at San Fernando has been improved and arranged, and the province has acquired a steam road roller for rolling

the roads.

All the work mentioned was performed and carried on within the province under the inspection of the provincial supervisor, and the following sums were invested as cost of these repairs: For material, P13,796.66; for hire and freight, P2,331.92, and for wages, P26,676.27, making a total cost of P42,798.85.

PROVINCIAL JAIL.

At present there are confined in this penal establishment 22 native men, 3 native women, and 1 colored American, making a total of 26 prisoners. Five of these are serving sentences of less than two years, and 21 have been tried and are awaiting sentence. The several offenses which caused their imprisonment are: Adultery, 2; assassination, 4; bigamy, 1; double assassination, 2; estafa, 1; homicide, 2; larceny, 1; violation of Act No. 652, 1; violation of Act No. 709, 2; ill treatment, 1; robbery and assault by a gang, 3; robbery and murder, 1, and rape, 2.

PROVINCIAL BOARD OF HEALTH.

As to the present state of the conditions of health and sanitation in this province in general, the same is good, and the demographic statistics taken from the office of this board show a considerable increase of the population, as may be seen from the following table: