Thus the royal exchequer can save expense, and increase its funds every year by the sum of one hundred and fifty-five thousand, six hundred and ninety-three pesos, six reals, the amount of the six previous items, which correspond to the costs of the spiritual administration of the Indians. This should be deducted from the amount which the ecclesiastical estate receives, for this very purpose, from the king and from the Indians—which, according to the summary of statement iv, reaches the sum of four hundred and thirty-two thousand, six hundred and twenty-nine pesos, six tomins—and there still remains, in favor of the ecclesiastical estate, two hundred and seventy-six thousand, nine hundred and thirty-six pesos.
Summary
| Pesos | tomins | |
| The ecclesiastical estate receives from the king and from the Indians, as in the summary of statement iv | 432,629 | 6 |
| Deducting the amount of the savings which are stated in the preceding lines, | 155,693 | 6 |
| There remains, in favor of the ecclesiastical estate, a net balance of | 276,936 |
Note
The escorts which are furnished to the ministers are, at most, proper in the first years of a mission; but ordinarily this is a useless expense, by which the religious orders profit—or rather their missionaries, who take no other escorts than their own servants; nor do they need escorts, especially in the well-peopled missions. Most of these are such, because many Indians from the villages take refuge in the missions, either fleeing from justice, or for not paying the tribute. Thus could be saved the cost of the said escorts; and even the stipend for every mission after twenty-five years from its establishment, by causing the people to be brought into villages.
STATEMENT VI
Other increases and savings which the royal exchequer can make, in the various directions which are here stated.
1. It is assumed that there are, at the lowest figure, six thousand heads of barangay in the provinces of these islands; for although, by the ordinance, each headship ought to have forty-five entire tributes, it is certain that there are few which reach that number, and that there are many of five, eight, ten, and twenty tributes. Therefore, assigning to each headship, on the average, at most thirty tributes, they make the six thousand above stated, the number of tributes [in them being] one hundred and eighty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty, the lowest computation that can be made of headships and of tributes. As three persons in every headship are exempted [from paying tribute], the royal exchequer is deprived of the value of nine thousand entire tributes, which, at the rate of ten reals, make eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos. Therefore, by abolishing the said headships, and making the governadorcillo or headman of each village responsible for the collection of the tributes therein (as is done in Nueva España), or by allowing the said headships and decreeing that those who hold them shall pay tribute (as they formerly did, by order of the visitor, Auditor Don Joseph Arzadun), this increase in the tribute will result to the advantage of the royal exchequer, by the sum of eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos.
2. It is generally the case that the heads of barangay keep back from the king, at a very low estimate, at least ten tributes each, on account of the dispersion of the houses of the Indians, which renders almost impossible any exactness in the tax-lists which for this purpose are committed to the said headships. Therefore, if the reduction of the villages into parishes[6]—which I have continually urged, and shall ask from this government—could be effected, not only would the aforesaid collection of the tribute be greatly facilitated, especially if it were committed, as I have said, to the governadorcillos and leading chiefs; but the tax-lists would be exactly drawn up by the alcaldes, and the said ten tributes in each barangay which have been mentioned would not be kept back from the king. This, estimated for the six thousand [headships], would come to the number of sixty thousand tributes; at the rate of ten reals each, the royal treasury would enjoy an increase from this source, which would reach the sum of seventy-five thousand, five hundred pesos.