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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 45, 1736: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century — John Shaqi

History

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 45, 1736: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources

and commerce to the natives of Philipinas, which is all the bounty that
my royal munificence can exercise;" but if the Manila shippers do not
wish to accept this adjustment of the duties, they can (as before)
pay the exact amount of the duties on each consignment of goods,
without any dispensation or remission. No one to whom space has been
assigned may transfer it to others, save in the case of poor persons
and widows. Any excess of returns over the 1,000,000 pesos shall be
divided among the shippers pro rata on their allotments of space and
valuations of goods at Manila, and they may carry it back in products
and commodities of Nueva España, but not in money; if the returns
fall short of the above sum, the deficiency shall not be made up,
the royal officials being strictly forbidden to allow any infraction
of this rule. Citizens of Nueva España are prohibited under heavy
penalties from participating in this trade as shippers, of either
goods or money. The measures used in regulating the size of packages
shall be those which the Manila shippers have been accustomed to use,
allowance having been made for the difference between these and the
Castilian standards, as decreed in 1702 and 1733. The committee of
distribution at Manila shall be composed of the following persons:
the governor of the islands; the senior auditor of the Audiencia,
or, as his substitute, the auditor next longest in service; the
royal fiscal; the archbishop of Manila, or, as his substitute, the
dean of the cathedral; one of the alcaldes-in-ordinary, and one of
the regidors, of the city of Manila; and one of the eight arbitrators
[compromissarios] who compose the commercial body [11] there--provided
that the regidor and the arbitrator be chosen in turn, so that this
duty shall fall, successively, on all the members of those respective
bodies. Despatches to this effect were sent to the officials of Mexico,
Acapulco and Filipinas. (The compiler of the Extracto thinks it worth
while to call attention to the opinion of the royal fiscal of Mexico,
given upon reading this decree, that it was "a just one, and generally
advantageous to both commerces.")]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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