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THE TRINIDAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Publication No. 215.


The Council of the Indies to the King of Spain.

Source :-British Museum. Additional Mss. 36321.

Published by the courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

Translated from the Spanish.

MADRID.
26th October, 1619.

SIRE,
On behalf of the Island of Trinidad and the town of
Guayana, it has been represented that the period of six years
has expired for which Your Majesty was pleased to relieve the
inhabitants from paying customs or excise duties on the
tobacco taken to Seville.

The settlements are new and infested with enemies and
there are no other products by which the inhabitants can
support themselves and make progress in their maintenance
and extension. They therefore beg Your Majesty in considera-
tion thereof to be pleased to order that this concession may
be continued for another six years.

This petition having been laid before the Council and the
reasons having been taken into consideration, it has been
decided that subject to the pleasure of Your Majesty, this
concession might be granted by extending the period of
freedom from custom and excise duties on tobacco taken to
Seville for four more years.