He also advises us that there is a lack of people in those islands, and that their inhabitants are decreasing in number by reason of the unhealthful climate; and that it would be important to provide a remedy for that, because of the need for it. I charge you to avoid, as far as possible, the giving of passports for granting passage from the islands. The viceroy of Nueva Espana is ordered to have a care in this, and to send more people than is his regular custom. Madrid, February 16, 1635. _I the King_ By order of the king our sovereign: _Don Gabriel de Ocana y Alarcon_ The King. To the auditors of my royal Audiencia of the Filipinas Islands: the letter which you wrote me under date of August 8 of the former year 1633 has been received and examined in my royal Council of the Yndias, and answer is made to you in this present letter. The reformation that you have made in the licenses that were given by the government for rice-wine stills, in which so great a quantity of rice was consumed, is well advised for the present, as it is beneficial to the common welfare; and if you shall encounter any difficulties in regard to this in the future, you shall advise me of them. You say that when that Audiencia was governing because of the death of Don Alonso Faxardo de Tenza, they began to introduce the inspection of the prisons of the Parian and of Tondo, on the Saturday of each week, as they are very near that city. Afterward in the time of the other governors, that custom was dropped, as they thought that it deprived them of some of their gubernatorial powers. As it is advisable that more attention be given to the alcaldes-mayor, and that certain annoyances to the prisoners be avoided, the said visits were continued, as they were so advisable to the service of God our Lord and to my own. I charge you to continue them for the present, if there is no disadvantage to prevent it. The efforts that you have made in regard to the building of a galleon that is being constructed, in the province of Camarines, have met my approval. As for the encomenderos who may have recourse to that Audiencia beyond the limits of its commission, whose encomiendas were declared vacant by the visitor, as they had failed to secure their confirmations within the specified time, justice will be done to the parties when they come to ask for what is necessary for them. In regard to the allotment of the lading-space in the ships, that you made to the inhabitants of that city, in accordance with the agreement that was made for that purpose, it is approved. Madrid, February 16, 1635. _I the King_ By order of the king our sovereign: _Don Gabriel de Ocana y Alarcon_