Recommendation on the proposals of the honorable lord director made to the council on 22 February 1656.
It is unknown to me how many times that the lord director has de-mon-strated verbally to the honorable council the dearth of treasury and the necessity to find means to supplement it; however, one thing I do know is that written recommendations have been submitted to all his proposals, and if sufficient means are not found to alleviate all the burdens stated in the honorable lord director’s proposals, it cannot be attributed to any maliciousness but to the impossibility of the matter caused by the misery of this time.
2.
On the first point concerning the resolution of the honorable lords patroons regarding the land tax and cattle fee, the honorable lord director should, in my opinion, still be mindful that he himself was the first one, when the printed placards came from Holland, who saw fit to delay the posting of the same until a more appropriate time. If his honor now finds the times to be more appropriate and the entire [ ] to carry out the same, the same placards are ready, and nothing remains but to post them. Concerning the 2 and 1/2 stivers for each rod on lots in this city, I do not know that the honorable lords patroons have ordered such, but do know that the tenths should be demanded on the rent of houses included in this city, which could have brought in a considerable sum, or otherwise [ could have been ] a pernicious income in its beginning, for the compensation of the damage that the burgers shall claim, would certainly exceed the sum of the aforesaid income, Just as everyone shall be able to judge [ arrange ] as he considers that the place included within the surrounding walls of this city is barely 30 morgens in size, from which is deducted the fort, the church grounds, the Company’s garden and houses, old and new streets, there shall hardly remain left 20 morgens, which calculated at 15 guilders per morgen, shall amount to about 300 guilders. This sum shall obviously not be able to compensate for the aforesaid damage. All the confusion that the building regulation shall cause in the patents, which regulation was, in my opinion, unnecessary at this time, because there are more empty lots on the regulated and completed streets than houses shall apparently be built in 4 years. Therefore it is my opinion that these subsidies could have been raised on the unimproved lots with more profit and more satisfaction of the burghers, according to the patents.
Concerning the tax on malt: I fear that the same shall be considered very peculiar and severe because recently the excise on beer has been doubled; and especially because the prices on grain has risen greatly since that time. Therefore, it is my recommendation that this should be reserved to another more suitable time.
Concerning the commissary Carel van Bruggen: I have personally admonished him regarding his promises to carry out his duties. He replied that he was doing his best, and that he was sleeping in the shop to do so; however, he experienced so many difficulties that he often saw no information, namely, about the goods, which he had neither received nor debited. Therefore, he was required to work from a waste book that was very vague. But such excuses are frivolous, as the honorable lord director knows better than I. My recommendation is that he be ordered to finish up before the departure of the ship de Waagh, or by failure to do so that he shall be sent with his books aboard the same ship to the lords.
Concerning the present situation of the Indians: it is my recommendation that as I have already done so for the last proposal of the lord director made to the council, it was unnecessary to repeat the same; and concerning the consolidation of the farmers ’ houses at M[ ] in the countryside: the published placard of the director and council about this city excuses my recommendation to deny the same. At Fort Amsterdam, the [ ] 1656. La Montagne.
