goods of deceased persons.  A royal decree must be despatched, so that this indebtedness be made no greater in the future, and so that the governors take upon themselves no authority to make payments out of the said fund; and such proceeding shall be strictly prohibited to them, as it was by another decree which was despatched to Piru in regard to this same matter, and the custom of the viceroys in making payments from the fund of the goods of deceased persons.

4.  In regard to the fourth point, concerning the sale of the office of [secretary of] government and war, which the governor says he has sold for fifty-four thousand pesos, the fiscal will place before the Council what will be advisable for the investigation of this matter, when the purchaser shall come to ask for the confirmation 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