_That the ships of the Filipinas line may be assigned by contract._
The viceroy made the experiment in the year 99, of giving two ships
in trust to Don Fernando de Castro and Alonso de Torres, with the
privilege of appointing officers, a salary of one thousand pesos, and
permission to place in the cargo twenty or twenty-five toneladas of
their own goods; they were obliged to give bonds, and to keep correct
accounts of the profits and expenses. If the profits should exceed
the expenses, the excess should belong to his Majesty; if the costs
should amount to more than the profits, the trustee must supply the
deficit from his own purse.
The officials of his Majesty at the port of Acapulco oppose this plan,
and say that it is very unprofitable, and to the injury of his Majesty
and the royal exchequer, in that the trustees attend only to their
own profit. It is the universal opinion that the "Santa Margarita"
did not come here on account of having been sent out thus in trust.