1. In the said savings and expenses have not been included the royal
customs duties--on which I made a report to his Majesty under date of
March 4, 760--because they are at the present time levied and collected
with great increase of the royal revenue, time having confirmed what
was contained in the report here cited. For, notwithstanding that the
collections are now made on the Spanish ships only at the rate of three
per cent, the royal exchequer has an increase of two hundred per cent,
more than in past times when these duties were levied, either really or
nominally [se exigia, ô se aparentava la exaccion], at eight per cent.
2. Reference can be made to the information which I furnished to his
Majesty under date of June 5 in the aforesaid year of 1760, in which
were discussed the savings which the royal exchequer could make in
various directions, especially in the timber-cutting and in the royal
storehouses, for the damage that the royal interests suffer [therein]
is very evident; but no definite amount is set down for the value of
the said savings, nor are they included in this account, since it is
difficult to compute them.
3. For the same reason, the large retrenchments have not been
included herein which can be made in the ribera of Cavite, and in the
stricter examination of the accounts pertaining to military supplies,
provisions, implements, and reserve supplies for the Acapulco ships
and other vessels belonging to his Majesty; for there is great waste,
and little care is exercised in what is furnished for consumption. [60]
These and many other economies can be facilitated only by
disinterestedness, zeal, and application to the affairs of the royal
service.