That is much to the cost of the Indians, and [an offense]
to God and to my conscience; for the multiplication of those offices
means the multiplication of those who destroy the Indians and inflict
innumerable injuries upon them. I petition and supplicate your Highness
to order the said corregidors' and alcaldes' districts remade as they
formerly were.
_Item_: That the governor be warned to endeavor to avoid, as far as
possible, the injuries inflicted upon the natives in the cutting of
wood and in personal services; for they sometimes draft them in the
planting season or at harvest, so that they lose their fields, as I
have seen. In addition to this, many times they do not pay the Indians,
because there is no money in the treasury, which is continually short
of funds. This often arises from the fact that they do not estimate
and consider the needs of the Indians with the amount of money that is
available; and consequently all the Indians complain. Finally, when
the said Indians are paid, it is done by the hand of the chiefs or
cabezas de barangay, who generally keep the money. Will your Highness
be pleased to order the governor and royal officials to avoid the
above grievances as much as possible; and when it is necessary for
the Indians to perform any personal labor, which consists generally
in the cutting of wood, to see that it be when they are not busied
in their fields--for that can generally be avoided--and that they be
paid the just wage, and that promptly.
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