a few days. The system which the municipal code adopts is this: If a man owns property worth $10,000, under the municipal code the municipal council is entitled to levy upon that land an annual tax not exceeding $50; the provincial government is entitled to levy upon the same land a tax not exceeding $37.50. The money collected for the municipality is spent in the municipality by the people themselves. All the money collected for the province is spent in the province by order of the provincial board. We have postponed this land tax for one year, because we did not think the condition of the country, by reason of the war, would justify our putting such a tax in force at once. What is to be done in the meantime, however, to support the provincial and the municipal governments? There are some sources of income for the municipality-the collection from market rents, fines, and that kind of thing but that is not enough, and the Commission has adopted this policy: They take all the internal-revenue taxes that have been collected in the province and in the municipalities of the province and that have heretofore gone into the central treasury. They give one-half of that collected in the province to the municipalities and one-fourth to the provincial government. They retain one-fourth, because that practically pays the expenses of collection. That will continue until the land tax comes into force, when, as I have said, most of the internalrevenue taxes are to be abolished.

We have thus gone over the general plan of the provincial government, and I now come to the points which are to be discussed to-day in reference to the special bill applying the Provincial Government Act to this province of Tayabas. The first section applies the general Act with the modifications contained in the special Act to the province of Tayabas. The second section fixes the compensation to be paid to the provincial officers. You will see if you will read the bill that the amounts are left blank. That was done because we come here for the purpose of consulting you as to what you think would be a fair compensation to be paid to the various officers. The amounts now fixed are not permanent; they are only to be fixed with reference to the limited sources of revenue now enjoyed by the province. When such a province as this shall have recovered from the effects of the war, and shall have reached the state of wealth and prosperity belonging to it, the responsibility of these officers will be largely increased, their labor will be largely increased, and they should be better compensated. The same section fixes the limit of the amount which ought to be paid to each officer for his traveling expenses, and we wish your advice upon that subject. The third section fixes the amount of the bond which the treasurer shall give, and that depends, of course, upon the amounts of money which he shall have in his hands at any one time. The fourth section makes a provision, which is not in the general law, for the meeting four times a year of all the municipalities in convention to advise the provincial board of the improvements that ought to be made in the province. We should like your advice as to whether you regard that feature of this law as a useful one and whether it should be retained. The fifth section provides where the capital of the province shall be, but the name of the town is left blank, and we are here to find out what the general opinion of the province is as to the place which will best serve the purpose of the capital. In one province we took a vote by towns and followed that vote. In other provinces we heard what was said and decided for ourselves. The

question of whether it shall be determined by a vote or not depends largely upon whether this is a representative gathering of the province. All these questions we throw open to discussion, and we ask your assistance by intelligent discussion in reaching a proper result, and we hope that no undue modesty will prevent the representatives of the different towns from coming forward and giving us the benefit of their advice.

In your consideration of the question of salaries, of course you are men of business and men of affairs, and know that if your pocketbook only has $1 in it you can not pay out $2, and you must regulate your salaries to your resources; and in fixing the provincial capital, in advising where that ought to be, you should take into consideration the interests of the whole province, and find where the place is which will be most convenient for all the towns, and the place where government buildings can either be furnished or can be easily procured. It may be of assistance to the delegates if I read salaries which have been given in other provinces. Knowing what the provinces are, and their resources, you can then possibly proportion the salaries of the present province. (The president then read salaries paid provincial officers in the provinces of Pampanga, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Bulacan, and Bataan.) This comprises all the provinces thus far organized, and the salaries paid, and they were fixed after consulting with the delegates and after we had learned what the resources of the province were and what was the general sentiment as to what the salaries should be.

(The Commission then adjourned until 3 o'clock in the afternoon.)

Afternoon session.

The session was called to order at 3 o'clock and the secretary directed to call the roll of the pueblos. The province was represented as follows:

Pueblo de Tayabas:

Alcalde

Sindico..

Secretario
Consejales.

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