ART. 8. The resolutions issued by the general intendance of the treasury in case of appeal, whenever such is presented before the same in accordance with the laws and regulations, shall always cause a stay of proceedings whenever matters allowing litigative proceedings are in question.

Against the same a litigative administrative appeal may be insti

tuted.

The resolutions of the intendance, from which the litigative administrative appeal does not lie, may be suspended by the GovernorGeneral and amended or annulled by the colonial secretary.

The decision which the latter may render shall end the administrative proceedings.

ART. 9. Appeals by way of complaint may in every case be instituted against the decisions of the general intendance of the treasury. ART. 10. The appeal instituted according to the cases, either for review or by way of complaint, shall be brought before the intendant within the period of fifteen days, counted from the day following that on which the sentence was pronounced.

ART. 11. The personnel to be assigned to the section of local administration and to the general intendance of the treasury, as well as the category and salaries of the officials, shall be determined in the proper schedules.

The colonial secretary shall issue the proper provisions in order that the transaction of business may be established in accordance with the desire of obtaining the greatest simplicity in all proceedings and the individual liability of the officials.

ART. 12. All provisions in conflict with those of the present decree are hereby repealed.

Given at the Palace on the 31st of December, 1896.

MARIA CRISTINA.

TOMÁS CASTELLANO Y VILLARROYA,
Colonial Secretary.

HIGH INSPECTION AND APPEALS BY WAY OF COMPLAINTS.

ROYAL DECREE.

In compliance with the provisions of basis 5 of Article II of the law of March 15, 1895, on the exercise of the powers of high inspection and on the appeal by way of complaint in the island of Porto Rico, at the suggestion of the colonial secretary, in concurrence with the council of secretaries,

In the name of my august son, The King Don Alfonso XIII, and as Queen Regent of the realm.

I decree the following:

CHAPTER I.-INSPECTION OF ALL THE PUBLIC SERVICES.

ARTICLE 1. The high inspection of all the public services of local or provincial administration appertains to

1. The Governor-General.

2. The colonial secretary.

ART. 2. The inspection referred to in the preceding article shall be respectively exercised by the Governor-General or by the colonial secretary.

1. On their own initiative.

2. By virtue of an appeal by way of complaint.

ART. 3. The colonial secretary enjoys prompt powers to exercise on his own initiative the high inspection which exclusively appertains to him over all the public services in the manner he may deem convenient for the improvement of the same, for the correction of the abuses which may be committed in their performance, and the strict observance of the laws, although the Governor-General may have taken cognizance of the matter as the representative of the Government or the delegate of the colonial secretary.

ART. 4. The Governor-General shall enjoy the same powers within his own sphere of action without prejudice to the powers appertaining to the colonial secretary.

ART. 5. The Governor-General and the colonial secretary, in the exercise of their powers of high inspection, either on their own initiative or by virtue of a complaint, shall see that the ordinary course of business is not interrupted as long as they do not require to adopt a ruling to remedy or prevent irreparable damage before the final decision of the competent authority.

CHAPTER II.-APPEAL IN COMPLAINT.

ART. 6. Any person may institute an extraordinary appeal in complaint before the decision in question may reach the point of a question tried either administratively or governmentally.

The appeal in complaint lies:

1. To the Governor-General of the island in reference to all the matters appertaining to the intendance and to the section of local administration.

2. To the colonial department in reference to the matters specified in the preceding paragraph or any other matter concerning the administration or the government of the island without any limitation whatsoever.

ART. 7. The institution of the appeal in complaint shall not interrupt the administrative proceedings, the legal period of time, nor the course of the proper claim.

ART. 8. The question tried by each procedure can not be changed from the manner prescribed by the special law governing it.

CHAPTER III.—THE LITIGATIVE-ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL.

ART. 9. The laws shall specify the cases in which a decision of a chief, corporation, or superior authority of the island to whose jurisdiction each question appertains according to the law of March 15, 1895, shall cause a stay of proceedings, to permit, in a proper case, litigative-administrative proceedings to be brought.

ART. 10. Without prejudice to what in each case is provided for by special laws, it is generally understood that resolutions issued by the authority, corporation, chief, or Governor-General of the island, cause a stay of proceedings for the effects of the litigative-administrative appeal, whenever they possess the requisites established by

law, and end the matter, not being susceptible of further remedy in administrative proceedings.

ART. 11. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding article, no ruling or decision from any authority or corporation of any kind whatsoever creating rights in detriment of the State or diminishing the faculties inherent in the sovereignty which the laws reserve or subsequently may ascribe to the government of the nation, shall cause a stay of proceedings nor be invested with the character or authority of a res adjudicata.

ART. 12. All provisions in conflict with those of the present decree are hereby repealed.

Given at the palace on the 31st of December, 1896.

Considering the reasons stated to me by the Secretary of the Interior, in concurrence with the council of secretaries,

I decree the following:

ARTICLE 1. The contracts entered into by the provincial deputations or the municipal councils for all kinds of services, works, purchases, sales and leases, and in general all those which may cause an expenditure or receipt in the provincial or municipal funds, shall be awarded to the highest bidder at a public auction.

The contracts mentioned in article 36 are the only ones excepted. ART. 2. The deputations and municipal councils shall draft the projects, the professional and financial documents of conditions, and the estimates of the works or services, or shall fix the price which is to serve as a basis for the auction, observing in each case, and in accordance with the nature of the contract, the prescriptions of laws or provisions in force.

ART. 3. The following must be stated in the document of con

ditions:

1. The rate or price which is to serve as a basis for the auction, and the form of the proposal showing the manner in which the bids are to be advanced in relation to the rate fixed.

2. The provisional guaranty which is to be deposited by the bidders in order to take part in the auction, and the final one which is to be paid by the successful bidder, taking into consideration the provisions of article 12.

3. The obligations contracted or the rights acquired by the successful bidder.

4. The obligations contracted or rights acquired by the interested corporation.

5. The fines which may be imposed on the successful bidder and the liabilities he may incur on account of noncompliance with the stipulations, determining the action which the contracting body shall exercise over the guaranties and the means by which the successful bidder shall be compelled to fulfill his obligations and to indemnify the injury he may occasion.

75270-H. Doc. 1484, 60-2, pt 3—25

6. The cases in which the successful bidder may request an increase or reduction in the price or rescission of the contract, or the notice that the latter is made at the risk and venture of the successful bidder, and that through no cause whatsoever may he demand a change in the price or the rescission of the contract.

7. The information of the domicile of the interested corporation to the courts of competent jurisdiction in any question which may

arise.

8. The obligation of the successful bidder to pay for the advertisements, instruments, and all kinds of expenses arising from the auction and execution of the contract.

ART. 4. When the contract binds the deputation or the municipal council to the payment of any sum, the auction can not be advertised if in the ordinary budget a sufficient credit is not included for the purpose, or unless the extraordinary budget which is necessary for this purpose has been previously drafted and approved.

If a municipal council should be the contracting party and the payments are to be made with funds from the ordinary budget during the current period of several budgets, the conditions determining the limits of time and amounts must be approved before the auction is advertised by the municipal board.

ART. 5. When the auction relates to contracts which need, in order to be valid, the approval of the provincial deputation, of the governor, or of the Government, the documents of conditions shall be previously approved by the corporation or authority who is to authorize the contract.

The corporations and provincial authorities must decide within a period of fifteen days, and the Government within thirty, counting from the one following the date of the transmission of the project, which shall be entered in the record of the proceedings of the auction. Should said periods respectively elapse without any decision having been rendered, the documents of conditions which have been forwarded shall be held as approved and the auction may be advertised, the contract which may be entered into being held as valid in so far as it is in accordance with the same.

In all cases specified in this article, the contracting corporations within the eight days following the execution of the contract with the successful bidder shall send a certified copy of the same to the corporation or authority, which expressly or tacitly may have approved the document of conditions, which if it does not find the former to conform with the latter, shall issue the proper decision and shall demand from the members of the contracting corporation who may be at fault the liability they may have incurred, without prejudice to the right of the successful bidder to demand from the same an indemnity for the damages which may be caused in case the contract is annulled.

ART. 6. Every auction shall be advertised at least thirty days in advance, by means of announcements which shall constantly be placed before the public during said period, in the places ordinarily designated by the deputations and municipal councils to post edicts and advertisements, taking care to have them renewed if it should be necessary.

These advertisements shall necessarily be published in every case in the official bulletin of the province, and also in the Gaceta de

Madrid, when the expenditure or the total receipts involved in the contract exceed 50,000 pesetas; they may also be published in newspapers not official, but of large circulation, whenever convenient in the opinion of the contracting corporation.

The latter shall see under its own liability that the proper advertisements are posted and published before the thirty days previous to the day fixed for the auction, and the compliance with this requisite shall be proved by means of a certification added to the record of proceedings of the auction or by attaching to the same a copy of the official newspapers.

In cases of urgency, or when the amount of the contract does not exceed 5,000 pesetas, the deputations and the municipal councils may shorten the limit of time mentioned in this article, but it shall never be under ten days.

ART. 7. The advertisement shall include the documents of conditions of the contract whenever the total amount of the latter exceeds 50,000 pesetas; if it does not exceed this amount and the expenses occasioned by the publication of these documents should not be in proportion to the importance of the contract, it shall be sufficient to state the place where they are to be seen, as well as the reports, plans, forms, budgets, and other objects or data, the knowledge of which may be necessary for a proper understanding of the conditions; but in every instance the object of the auction, place or places, and the day and hour on which it is to be held, the authority who is to preside the act, the rate of the auction, the form to which the proposals must conform or the manner in which the bids are to be made; the conditions and the provisional deposit required of the bidders shall always be mentioned, always stating the net amount of the deposit, the final bond to be given by the successful bidder, the duration of the contract, and the time or periods in which the payments are to be made or the service is to be rendered, or the work completed which is the object of the same.

ART. 8. The auctions for provincial contracts shall be held in the capital of the province under the chairmanship of the governor or of the deputy of the provincial committee whom he may appoint as his delegate, with the attendance of another deputy appointed by the deputation.

The auctions for municipal contracts shall be held in the capital of the district, under the chairmanship of the mayor or of the deputy mayor or councilor whom he may delegate, with the attendance of another councilor appointed by the municipal council.

The secretary of the corporation may be present to certify to the act when the amount of the contract does not exceed 15,000 pesetas; but should he not be able to attend in person, and in all cases when the amount of the contract exceeds said sum, the auction shall be held before a notary, unless there is not one in the town or those who may be in the same should become incapacitated after the auction has been announced.

ART. 9. Whenever the total of the receipts or expenditures arising from the contract exceeds 50,000 pesetas two simultaneous auctions shall be held, one in the place where the interested corporations reside and in the manner provided for by the preceding article, and the other in Madrid under the chairmanship of the official appointed by the secretary of the interior.