By authority of the President of the United States and by special direction of the Secretary of War, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Chinaman who left the Philippine Islands before the thirteenth day of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and has remained outside of the Islands until the present time, and who would he excluded but for the orders heretofore issued by the Military Governor of the Philippine Islands extending the time within which Chinamen might be permitted to return, shall be permitted to enter the Islands.

SEC. 2. Chinamen who have left the Philippine Islands since the thirteenth day of August, eighteen hundred, and ninety-eight, or who may leave in the future, shall be permitted to land only upon the production of a certificate of the collector of customs of the port of the Philippine Islands from which they departed, issued at the time of their departure. The period in which such legal return can be made after their departure from the Islands is hereby limited to one and one-half years, which period shall be stated in the certificate to be issued by the collector of customs at the time of the departure, and no extension of that period shall be granted for illness, or for any other cause, by any authority.

SEC. 3. All laws, regulations, and orders heretofore issued are hereby repealed in so far as the same are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 4. 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. 5. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, December 13, 1901.