diff --git a/Code/JavaWrappers/Atom.i b/Code/JavaWrappers/Atom.i
index 34795769e..2529fb4e4 100644
--- a/Code/JavaWrappers/Atom.i
+++ b/Code/JavaWrappers/Atom.i
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* 
-* $Id$
+* $Id: Atom.i 2519 2013-05-17 03:01:18Z glandrum $
 *
 *  Copyright (c) 2010, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Inc.
 *  All rights reserved.
@@ -58,7 +58,9 @@
 #endif
 %include <GraphMol/Atom.h>
 
-%newobject RDKit::Atom::getProp;
+/* For the time being, assume all properties will be strings */
+%template(setProp)  RDKit::Atom::setProp<std::string>;
+
 %extend RDKit::Atom {
   std::string getProp(const std::string key){
     std::string res;
diff --git a/Code/JavaWrappers/Bond.i b/Code/JavaWrappers/Bond.i
index f1975233b..86cb2900c 100644
--- a/Code/JavaWrappers/Bond.i
+++ b/Code/JavaWrappers/Bond.i
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* 
-* $Id$
+* $Id: Bond.i 2519 2013-05-17 03:01:18Z glandrum $
 *
 *  Copyright (c) 2010, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Inc.
 *  All rights reserved.
@@ -49,7 +49,16 @@
 
 %include <GraphMol/Bond.h>
 
+/* For the time being, assume all properties will be strings */
+%template(setProp)  RDKit::Bond::setProp<std::string>;
+
 %extend RDKit::Bond {
+  std::string getProp(const std::string key){
+    std::string res;
+    ($self)->getProp(key, res);
+    return res;
+  }
+
   /* Methods from MolFileStereoChem.h */
   Bond::BondDir DetermineBondWedgeState(const RDKit::INT_MAP_INT &wedgeBonds,
                                         const RDKit::Conformer *conf) {