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

SECTION 1. There may he employed in the Bureau of Printing as many apprentices as in the judgment of the Secretary of Public Instruction the interests of the public service will permit, such apprentices to be selected by the Public Printer subject to such requirements as to age, physique, health, character, and education as may be prescribed by the Philippine Civil Service Board. Apprentices shall be designated as first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth class apprentices, and shall be paid and serve in each class as hereinafter prescribed. All original appointments shall be to the sixth class, and apprentices shall be required to serve at least three months in this class at twenty cents per day before promotion to the second class, at least six months in the fifth class at thirty cents per day before promotion to the fourth class, at least nine months in the fourth class at forty cents per day before promotion to the third class, at least six months in the third class at sixty cents per day before promotion to the second class, at least six months in the second class at eighty cents per day before promotion to the first class, and at least six months in the first class at one dollar and ten cents per day, when they may be rated in the Bureau of Public Printing as craftsmen. The promotion or reduction of an apprentice from one class to another shall be made by the Public Printer, and shall be based on the civil-service efficiency rating of the apprentice.

SEC. 2. Each native craftsman employed in the Bureau of Public Printing at the end of three years of honest, faithful, satisfactory, and continuous service in such Bureau from the date this Act becomes effective shall be entitled to receive extra compensation as follows: Ten cents per diem for each full day of actual service rendered at a daily wage of sixty cents or more but less than one dollar and twenty cents; twenty cents per diem for each full day of actual service rendered at a daily wage of one dollar and twenty cents or more but less than one dollar and sixty cents; and thirty cents per diem for each full day of actual service rendered at a daily wage of one dollar and sixty cents or more: Provided, That on the recommendation of the Public Printer, approved by the Secretary of Public Instruction, one year's accumulated extra compensation may be paid at the conclusion of two years' continuous service: And provided further, That in case of the separation of any native craftsman from the Bureau of Public Printing before completing the three years' service herein prescribed on account of permanent disability or death, such native craftsman or his estate, as the case may be, may, on the recommendation of the Public Printer, approved by the Secretary of Public Instruction, receive the extra compensation herein provided which may have accumulated up to the time of his separation from service in the Bureau. The time served by native craftsmen as second-class and first-class apprentices shall be counted as a part of the three years' honest, faithful, satisfactory, and continuous service for which extra compensation is allowed by the provisions of this section. For the purposes of this Act the services of native craftsmen are definitely separated from service in the Bureau of Public Printing.

SEC. 3. There shall be kept in the Bureau of Public Printing an accurate account of the extra compensation accruing under the provisions of section two of this Act, and the disbursing officer for the Bureau shall pay the same to the persons entitled thereto, as the same becomes due under and by virtue of this enactment, on the presentation of proper vouchers signed by the Public Printer and approved by the Secretary of Public Instruction.

SEC. 4. The compensation mentioned in this Act is stated in money of the United States, but may be paid either in money of the United States or its equivalent in local currency at the authorized rate, as may be provided by law or order.

SEC. 5. All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 6. 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. 7. This Act shall take effect on March first, nineteen hundred and three.

Enacted, March 3, 1903.