Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 11).djvu/102

null and declared void; and the fiscal shall advise concerning them."]

9. In the building of churches on the encomiendas of these islands your royal treasury is subjected to excessive expenses by their being made, as they are, of wood. Your Majesty pays, for those which stand on the encomiendas belonging to your royal crown, two-thirds of the cost—one-third as encomendero, and another as king and lord. In those possessed by private citizens you pay one-third as king. As woods in this country decay very easily, they rot within five or six years, and it is necessary to build the said churches over again. Besides, it often happens that when they are finished they are soon burned down. It would be well for the said churches henceforth to be built of stone or brick; for, with little more than what it costs to build them of wood, they can be built of stone or brick and will last for many years.

[In the margin: "Let the Audiencia investigate this."]

10. The custom has been introduced of supplying wine for the celebration of the mass to the priests of all the orders—not only to those which are in the encomiendas of the royal crown, but to those in private ones. As I understand it, your Majesty is under no obligation to furnish it, except to those who minister in the four convents of Manila, and to the curates of Spaniards and Indians there, and to those who are in your Majesty's missions; and the encomenderos are obliged to furnish them with the said wine on their own encomiendas. Your Majesty will order the action in this matter which is most fitting to your royal service.

[In the margin: "Write to the governor to order