Section 17
SEC. 17. It shall be the duty of the provincial board: To provide, by construction or purchase or renting, suitable offices for the provincial officers, and a court-house containing a room or rooms suitable for the holding of court and for offices for the court, officers, and a provincial jail in the municipality fixed by law as the capital of the province. The provincial building shall first, be used for the purpose of affording sufficient office room to all the provincial officers. If, after supplying this necessary office room, the building affords sufficient accommodation for the residence of the governor of the province, he may occupy the building for this purpose. The assignment of rooms for offices and the residence of the governor in the provincial building shall be made by the provincial board. To furnish a suitable vault or safe lo the provincial treasurer, in which be shall keep the provincial of other public funds as long as they are in his custody, except as hereinafter provided. To order, in its discretion, the construction, repair, or maintenance of roads, bridges, or ferries within the province on the J recommendation of the provincial supervisor, and to approve or reject contracts for such construction or repair, and the construction or repair of provincial buildings let by the provincial supervisor: Provided, That no public improvement, the estimated cost of which exceeds one thousand pesos, Philippine currency, shall be I; directed to be made or contract therefor approved or funds therefor appropriated until the provincial board shall have requested through the Executive Secretary investigations, pin us. or surveys of such public improvement by the Bureau of Engineering: Provided; further, That no contract for construction of a road, bridge, or of a public building shall be entered into until the provincial treasurer shall certify that there is in the provincial treasury a sum sufficient to meet the estimated cost of the construction of the improvement which may be lawfully devoted to such purpose; and after such. certificate shall be insult: and filed and the contract entered into, the provincial treasurer shall treat the sum thus certified as not subject to warrant except to meet the obligations of the contract. All work of repair, construction, or equipment of roads or buildings involving a greater cost than one thousand pesos. Philippine currency, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, after ten days' public notice of the letting by advertisement in a paper of general circulation in the province, or, if then1 he no such paper, by a notice posted for ten days at the main entrance to the supervisor's office in' the capital of the province. If the provincial board shall regard the contract to be let and the work to the done of sufficient magnitude it may authorize the supervisor, in addition to giving the public notices above required, to advertise for bids in a newspaper published in the city of Manila. The supervisor is authorized to reject any or all bids, and if the bids are too high lie may recommend to the board that be be allowed to purchase the material and hire the labor and himself supervise the work, and the board may then authorize such a course. To agree, upon the recommendation of the provincial supervisor, with the provincial hoard of nnv adjoining province, on the terms, within the limitations of law, upon which roads forming the. boundary between the two province's, and bridges and ferries crossing streams forming such boundary, shall be constructed, repaired, or maintained under the joint control of the two provincial governments. To direct, in its discretion, the bringing or defense of suits; on behalf of the provincial government and to compromise the-same on the recommendation of the provincial fiscal and the approval of the judge of First Instance for the district. To order the monthly payment of all salaries provided by law, and the payment of all lawfully contracted indebtedness, by. directing the issue of warrants upon the provincial treasurer.; Every warrant shall be drawn by the governor and countersigned by the secretary, and shall recite the cause and purpose of drawing the same, the date of the resolution authorizing it, and the page of the minutes of the board's proceedings on which it is recorded. Should the provincial treasurer deem any warrant drawn to be for an unlawful or unwarranted purpose, he may suspend payment and refer the question to the Auditor for the Philippine Islands, whose decision shall be mandatory upon him. To authorize the provincial treasurer to deposit so much of the provincial funds as may not be needed in the near future for public use in a bank of deposit of approved standing in the Islands. All interest paid on such deposit shall inure to the benefit of the provincial treasury, and no funds shall be deposited — in the bank by the treasurer until there shall be spread upon the minutes of (lie board a resolution reciting and approving the exact terms of: the contract of deposit in the bank. The bank shall certify the weekly balances of provincial funds held by it to the provincial governor and to the Treasurer of the Philippine Islands. To hold regular weekly meetings upon a day to be fixed by the board, and special meetings upon the call of the governor. The meetings of the board shall be open to the public. To authorize the appointment of necessary subordinate , employees by the various provincial officers, and to fix the salaries of such employees, subject to the approval of the Treasurer of the Philippine Islands. To adopt rules regulating the hours of employment of the m subordinates in the various offices, subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Law and Rules. To provide an official seal for the province. To pass upon every ordinance, resolution, or other act of the several township councils of the province, approving the same should they deem it satisfactory; should they deem it unsatisfactory they shall return it to the council, suggesting suitable amendments; the council shall inform them of its action, and they shall then approve the ordinance or act as amended, or modify it, as they may deem necessary. Should the council of any township fail to fix the limits of the barrios of the township; to fix the salaries of duly authorized officers and employees; to make appropriations for lawful and necessary township expenditures; to regulate the sanitation of the township and order the removal of nuisances and causes of disease; to regulate the running at large of domestic animals; to adopt suitable measures to prevent the spread of disease; to prohibit gambling, opium smoking, or the sale of opium for smoking; to provide for the care of the poor, the sick, or of orphans; to provide for the establishment and maintenance of schools for primary instruction: to provide for the construction and maintenance of necessary waterworks for supplying the inhabitants of the township with water, and for insuring the equitable distribution and use of water for the purpose of irrigation in the township or for other purposes; or, in general, to provide for carrying into effect and discharging the powers and duties conferred on it by law; or, should it fail to enact such measures as are necessary and proper to provide for the health and safety, promote the prosperity, improve the morals, good order, peace, comfort, and convenience of the township and the inhabitants thereof and for the protection of the property therein—then the provincial board shall" issue to the president of such township suitable written orders for securing these ends, and such orders shall have the effect of law, subject to disapproval by the Secretary of the Interior. But then constant aim of the provincial board shall be to aid the people of the several townships of the province to acquire the knowledge and experience necessary for successful local popular government, and their supervision and control shall be confined within the narrowest limits consistent with the requirements that the powers of government in the township shall be honestly and effectively exercised, and that law and order and individual freedom shall be maintained. To change the boundaries of existing townships and of townships hereafter established. To provide, if deemed expedient by the provincial board, by construction or purchase or renting, such school building or buildings in the province as in the opinion of be board may be necessary, to be used for the free secondary instruction of pupils resident in the province, such secondary instruction being understood to include, in addition to academic and commercial subjects, . manual training, instruction in agriculture, and normal-school instruction, and to provide for the payment of all expenses of maintaining such public school or schools of secondary instruction as may be established in the province; and the schools in their establishment and conduct shall be subject to the general supervision of the division superintendents and the General Superintendent of Education, in accordance with the provisions of Act Numbered Seventy-four: Provided. That, temporarily and until such time as ' the Commission shall decide that the condition of the finances of the province will justify for the future payment of the salaries of teachers and the expense of supplies and equipment for secondary schools from the provincial treasury, such salaries and expense may be borne by the Insular Government: Provided further, That if for any reason the province is not prepared to establish a secondary or high school, the provincial board may provide from provincial funds for the payment of the tuition, in a high school in any other province or in the city of Manila, of such pupils as may wish to enter such high school and are declared by the proper examining authorities of the school which they wish to enter to be fitted to receive secondary instruction: and the principal of the high school in question shall, provided the provincial board shall approve of the admission of pupils from other provinces, make provision for their accommodation, and when the school to which such pupils are admitted is a provincial school the provincial board may authorize and direct the provincial treasurer to collect from the province sending them a reasonable tuition fee for each pupil so admitted. To provide and equip for the division superintendent of schools the necessary room or rooms for bis office and for use in storing and distributing supplies. In case any division embraces more than one province, such room or rooms and equipment shall be provided by the province in which the division superintendent maintains his residence. To forward to the Executive Secretary requisitions upon the Insular Purchasing Agent for property or supplies made under the provisions of Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as y amended, and to accompany the same with a certified copy of a resolution by the provincial board or township council making the necessary appropriation to cover the cost and expenses thereof; and,. also, when notified by the Insular Purchasing Agent that he is ready to make the shipment, to forward to him a certificate by the provincial treasurer or township treasurer, as the case may be, showing that there is sufficient money in the provincial treasury or township treasury to cover the cost and expenses incurred by reason of the requisition, and that the money required to make the payment has been set aside by the board or council and is reserved for the purpose. It is hereby made the duty of the provincial treasurer or township treasurer to issue such certificate, if the facts warrant the issue thereof, upon the request of the provincial board or township council. After the making of an appropriation by the provincial board or township council for the purpose above mentioned the money thus sot aside shall not be withdrawn by the provincial treasurer or township treasurer for any other purpose, whether by direction of the provincial board or township council or otherwise, under penalty of dismissal of such provincial or township treasurer. To order, in its discretion, the execution by the supervisor, at provincial expense, of such minor surveys and examinations as' may he necessary to determine the advisability of making public improvements, either by the provincial government or the Insular Government, within the jurisdiction of the province: Provided, Thai no survey or examination costing more than one thousand pesos, Philippine currency, shall be commenced without the previous approval of the Consulting Engineer to the Commission. To make loans, when deemed expedient by the provincial board, out of provincial funds not otherwise appropriated, to townships of the province for the construction or repair of school buildings or for other school purposes: Provided, however, That the sum so loaned any one fiscal year shall not exceed ten per centum of the gross regularly income of the province for the previous fiscal year: And provided further, That such loans shall be made payable without interest by the townships to the province not later than the end of the succeeding fiscal year.