The dissensions which the new code of laws had occasioned in Nicaragua were not yet at an end. Cerrato, who was still president of the audiencia, of the Confines,[XXIV‑25] was harassed on all sides. The ecclesiastics contended that the natives should be taken from the encomenderos and placed under the crown, which virtually meant the church, and that their owners be recompensed directly from the royal treasury. The conquerors, however, would listen to no such proposition, but tenaciously held to their possessions. The number of Indian towns subject to the crown in Nicaragua about the year 1555 was twenty-seven.[XXIV‑26] Nicoya, the largest, contained five hundred families; there was no other with more than one hundred, and most of them had but ten or twenty families. The extreme poverty of the natives had rendered necessary a reduction of their tribute,[XXIV‑27] and hence the salaries of civil officers and of the clergy were on a reduced scale. The aggregate tithes of the church in the province amounted in 1555 but to sixteen hundred pesos, and were decreasing from year to year. The bishop's portion was three hundred and eighty pesos, a sum insufficient for his maintenance, and he was compelled to petition the king to increase his income. Priests laboring in native villages received two hundred pesos, and in one instance the stipend was only eighty pesos. [Sidenote: ECCLESIASTICAL SUCCESSION.] After the death of Valdivieso, the friar Alonso de la Vera Cruz, who had for many years filled the chair of theology in the university of Mexico, and during a quarter of a century had preached to the natives in their own tongue, was nominated as his successor, but declined the preferment.[XXIV‑28] The see was then offered to the licentiate Carrasco, who took charge of the diocese, but never proceeded to consecration.[XXIV‑29] As bishop-elect he made himself familiar with the affairs of the province, instituted numerous inquiries, and as the result made various suggestions to the civil authorities. He declared that the decrease in population and revenue was caused by the conduct of the alcaldes mayores, most of whom were either fools or knaves. Within three years five or six had been sent to Nicaragua by appointment of the audiencia, and the natives had been compelled each time to erect gala arches to welcome them, and to fatten fowl and prepare delicacies for their entertainment. The officers of the crown gave Carrasco but little satisfaction, and even went so far as to deny his right to demand an account of tithes received for ecclesiastical purposes, although through their peculations the amount had fallen so low as to be inadequate for the support of the bishopric. Little wonder that he soon had enough of so uninviting a field of labor.