nfirmation
of this sale. For the present, what he has to note is that only ten
thousand pesos of the said sum appear to have been in cash; for the
forty-four thousand pesos remaining were received in salary-warrants
which were said to be owing from the treasury to the said purchaser
and to other persons. That mode of payment has many inconveniences,
as has been alleged on other occasions; and order must be given that
it be avoided as much as possible.

5. In regard to the fifth point, no definite measures can be taken
until the accountant and royal officials have been heard, and the
custom ascertained which has been in vogue in appointing and removing
the minor officials of the royal treasury; for in the majority of
cases, it is usually in charge of the royal officials, to say who
shall help them, and they remove or appoint as they deem best. If
there has been or is anything that contradicts this, it is where such
minor officials are paid and are given title by his Majesty.

6. In regard to the sixth and last point, it will be advisable to
look up and collect the acts cited in it; and in the meanwhile the
fiscal thinks that order should be given to pay the fees to the minor
officials, as was declared by the royal Audiencia. Madrid, November
30, 1630.

[A copy of certain sections of the present letter follows (those of
the fifth point) with the decree of the Council and the statement of
the fiscal, all of which is given above. Several of the summaries
of decrees of the Council are dated July 11, 1631. The following
statement, relating to the fifth and sixth points, completes the
document.]

The fiscal, having seen the acts which accompany this section of this
letter, in virtue of a decree of the Council, declares that it should
be ordered to observe the custom that has been followed in Manila in
regard to the appointment of the clerks who serve under the royal
officials; and that there be no such innovation as is attempted by
the governor--by which, besides the petition that shall be given to
the governor by the person who solicits such and such an office, the
royal officials give information as to his ability and competency;
and the governor, having considered his competency, will make the
appointment. For this means to deprive the royal officials of what
they now enjoy and possess, which is even less than their rights in
other parts. Neither does the pretension of the accountant, Martin
Ruiz de Salazar, appear su