t in the city
of Manila:

From the discovery of these islands until now there has been no
instruction or fixed order given by his Majesty in regard to the
pay and rations which have been and ought to be given to many of the
persons who have served and who shall serve in his service in various
posts of the sea and in other employments, both in this city of Manila
and along the coast and in the port of Cavite, in the shipyards for
the construction of ships which are built for the royal service in the
provinces of these islands, in the presidios of the islands, and in the
voyages to and from Nueva Espana, Terrenate, the island of Hermosa,
Macan, India, and other places; but the governors my predecessors,
and the councils of the treasury, made some regulations, by virtue
of decrees from his Majesty (as the matter was referred to them,
so that they could decide on what was best). Some of the wages paid
were thus very greatly increased, thereby causing, from that time
until the present, a heavy burden and debt on the royal estate. So
heavy has been this burden that the royal estate has come to so low
an ebb by reason of some salaries that are especially excessive, that
it is obliged to demand loans quite ordinarily from the inhabitants
of this said city; and, because of the heavy loans that have been
made for many years, it has been impossible to free itself from its
many debts. Now therefore, on account of all these considerations,
and because the matter has been examined and considered attentively,
as well as the little profit of the royal patrimony in these islands
(or rather its many expenses) because of the constant reenforcements
of men, money, ammunition, food, and other things that must be sent
to the presidios of the islands (which, being many and so distant and
separated from one another), meet a much greater cost and expense than
his Majesty is told--in especial the great cost of the preparation
and equipment of the two ships sent annually to Nueva Espana for the
usual reenforcement of men and the other things that maintain this
land; and almost the chief reason for which those ships sail and
are sent seems not to be for reenforcements, but only to carry and
to bring back the goods of the inhabitants and merchants of Manila,
in which they traffic to the extent that is well known, and to so
much greater a sum than his Majesty has permitted, at so great an
expense to the royal estate, and little or no profit from th