By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Section twenty-seven of Act Numbered Seven hundred and eighty-seven, entitled "An Act providing for the organization and government of the Moro Province," is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following words:

"And provided further, That justices of the peace may be appointed by the Civil Governor, with the advice and approval of the Philippine Commission, for towns or places in the Moro Province which have not been organized into municipalities, or which, although included within the limits of an organized municipality, are distant from or have no convenient means of access to the center of population. The jurisdiction of the justices of the peace for the municipality in which such town or place is situated and of the justice of the pence appointed in pursuance of this proviso, shall be concurrent over cases arising within the municipality. The several justices of the peace in any district of the Moro Province shall exercise concurrent jurisdiction over cases arising within the district but without the limits of an organized municipality. Actions, civil and criminal, shall be brought before the justice of the peace who is most convenient of access to the parties, but the justice of the peace first acquiring jurisdiction over any such case shall have exclusive jurisdiction over it. It shall be the duty of the justice of the peace to refuse jurisdiction of any ease where the convenience of the parties manifestly requires it to he brought before another justice of the peace having concurrent jurisdiction. In criminal prosecutions and preliminary investigations before justices of the peace, the costs of the proceeding, including the fees of the justice, shall be paid from such treasury provincial, district, or municipal as the legislative council of the Moro Province may by law provide. Such provision shall be as nearly analogous to the provisions of law governing that subject in other provinces as the circumstances and conditions existing in the Moro Province may warrant.''

SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect as soon as the legislative council of the Moro Province shall have made provision for the payment of the costs and expenses referred to in the first section of this Act.

Enacted, May 23, 1904.