Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 10).djvu/16

 the Chinese, whom he views with some suspicion. The Japanese trade requires regulation, especially that in deerskins, which threatens to destroy the game. The sale of provisions especially should be under government supervision. Sumptuary laws and the prevention of gambling are required. Negroes should be kept out. Building houses with wood should be prevented. The streets need repairs. The officials take much advantage of their position, and especially favor their dependents unduly. Military commissions are given by favoritism. Soldiers are ill disciplined, ill paid, ill lodged, demoralized, and in bad health. Military stores are badly cared for; the very arquebuses in the armory are rotting, and there is no preparation for emergencies. The ordinary magistrates pillage the treasury, are oppressive, indolent, and corrupt, and take advantage of their position to traffic; they are not sharply looked after. The encomenderos are extortionate and fraudulent, take law into their own hands, and fail to provide religious instruction for the Indians. The royal exchequer and treasury is negligently and wastefully managed, and insufficiently regulated. There are many sinecures, and not a little fraud in offices. In the voyages to and from Mexico, many frauds and illegal acts are committed by the officers of the vessels.

An interesting complement to Morga's report—all the more so because it is apparently written by an ecclesiastic—is found in a document unsigned and undated (but probably of 1598) which enumerates the reforms needed in the islands. The writer advises that the usual inspection of encomenderos and officials be made by the prelates of the church, rather than, as hitherto, by laymen appointed by the gov-