40. Item: We command that our president of our Audiencia shall send once a year to our Council of the Yndias an extended and detailed report, attested by his signature, of the salaries, payments, fees, and allowances paid in this territory from our royal treasury to all persons whatsoever, and shall state how much was paid to each, and for what reason. And he shall give a list of the corregidorships, stating in it to whom the appointment is given by our warrant [cedula], and to whom by order of our president and Audiencia, and for what reason; and he shall report on the qualifications and merits of each person, the amount of fees that each one receives, the amount of salaries in each corregidor’s district, and the persons appointed in each district, and their qualifications. He shall also state the nature of their service, and how long it is since they were appointed to the said offices. The same reports shall be made by our fiscal and our officials of the royal treasury.
41. Item: We desire that one of our auditors, each in his turn, shall make a visit of inspection once a year to the villages of the district of the said Audiencia, and to the inns and, apothecaries’ shops, seeing to it that the inns shall have fixed lists of rates. The medicines and other things in the apothecaries’ shops which he discovers to be spoiled he shall pour out and not permit to be sold. On the same visit to the provinces of his district he shall inform himself as to the nature of the soil, the amount of the population, and the best means of supporting the churches and monasteries required. He shall observe what public buildings arc needed for the good of the towns and the better traveling of the roads. He shall find out whether the natives perform the sacrifices and commit the idolatries to which they are accustomed, how the corregidors perform their duties, and whether the slaves that go to the mines are instructed in doctrine as they ought to be. He shall ascertain whether the Indians support themselves, or whether they are made slaves, contrary to that which is ordained. And he shall inform himself in a compendious manner with regard to everything else requiring his attention. The said auditor shall have warrant to attend to matters in which delay would be dangerous, or which are of such a nature that they do not require greater deliberation. He shall remit to the Audiencia the other cases to which he is not obliged to attend. For the acts aforesaid shall be given to the auditor the warrant of the decree dealing with inspections.
42. Item: We command that our said president shall grant no fee, office, corregidorship, or other source of profit by which means of support may be gained, to any man who has Indians in encomiendas.
43. Item: Our said president and auditors shall suffer no merchants to set upon their wares prices higher than those by us ordained and commanded.
44. Further: Whensoever the citizens and inhabitants of the district of our Audiencia shall be summoned by the said Audiencia they shall obey the summons in peace and war, as by our president and auditors shall be commanded; and they shall do and fulfil all that on our behalf they say and command, and they shall give them all aid and comfort which they desire—under penalty of infamy, and the other penalties incurred by vassals disobedient to their king and lord.
45. Item: Any person who desires to petition us for any favor for services not performed in our Yndias shall first make his declaration before the Audiencia in whose district he may be, and the Audiencia shall make an official report of the services performed, and of his character. This report, folded and sealed, with their opinion at the foot thereof, shall be sent in duplicate to our council, without being shown to the person interested. And if the person interested desires to make a report for himself, they shall receive and transmit it.
46. Item: We command that in each and every case when any towns or individuals of their district appear before our Audiencia to petition for license to make repartimientos, the Audiencia shall grant the license which seems to them due, but only so far as concerns suits pending before the said Audiencia, and for public works for which no other maintenance is provided, and for no other purpose. The said license in the aforesaid cases shall be granted, if such towns have no endowments [propios].
47. Item: When any one shall petition for an assignment of any town lots or agricultural lands in the city or town where our Audiencia shall reside, then after conference in the cabildo, notice of the judgment of the cabildo shall be given to our president, by means of two regidors deputed therefor. And when they have made their examination, that upon which the president together with the two deputies shall determine, shall be carried out, being attested by all in the presence of the clerk of the cabildo, that he may record it in the council-book. Petitions for assignments of lands and waters for machinery shall be presented before the president, who shall transmit them to the said cabildo that they may confer thereon. They shall return them by a regidor, who shall report their conclusions, so that after examination the president may determine that which is fitting.
48. Item: Our said president and auditors shall cause to be made a record-book in which shall be entered the names of citizens of this territory, the service performed by each one, and the reward received by him, either in money, by way of fees, or in other ways, or by appointment, and to what offices. The said record shall be kept with great care, together with the record of votes, so that when any person makes a statement of services before them they may report their opinions in his case.
49. Item: We command that our Audiencia, at the end of the two months during which the two regidors appointed as inspectors of weights and measures have served, shall receive from them an account of their service.