[several lines lost] neither days nor [ ] received and [ ] that more [ was ] received of the taxes, or at least should have been received.
Except for that, three-quarters of a year of expired rents are missing, up to the time that the accounts were handed over, which is about mid-December, amounting to about four thousand guilders; so far the director general and councilors remain ignorant of the receipts and disbursements thereof, the old lease already having expired for a long time, and the new lease having begun, of which the appropriate accounts regarding this are requested.
Concerning the expenses, many entries hereon appear to be inadequate and in no way acceptable.
First, the tax amounting to 5 or 6 thousand guilders was requested by the then governing burgomasters and schepenen, and consented and permitted by the director general and councilors towards the payment of the city’s debts made in the last encounter with the wilden, which occurred unhoped-for and unexpectedly during the honorable lord general’s absence, and the remainder was to be employed towards the city’s needed fortification and the repairs and maintenance thereof, and not towards unnecessary expenses or gifts without order, yes, even knowledge of the director general and councilors of New Netherland, such as, for example, a [several lines lost]
sum ƒ1194½
Which by no means are justified, even less acceptable without further disclosure.
Many other entries, which we now postpone until later disclosure and the handing over of the continued accounts on the first of February, require further [ disclosure ] and clearer evidence; we adhere to the ordinances, as such is customary and appropriate in accounts of domains.
Finally, we see in the conclusion an entry of ƒ336:[ ] for commission according to the order of the director general and councilors, and above that entry another 165 guilders for loss on sewant; this last [ entry ] is unacceptable, because commission is allowed at 5%. Therefore, the receiver is obliged to check the sewant when he receives it, or to have it checked; if he finds a deficit, he should refuse the same, and not charge any losses over and above the commission, which would result in bad consequences and give the presumption of an invented account.
And just a bit before the conclusion of the 7th of February 1657 is an entry of 80 boards for Jochem Pietersen’s sheathing, and those worth a schelling went for a daelder apiece, which far exceeds the ordinary price. This agrees with the city’s treasury and its expenditures as well, because everyone is obliged to make/repair[i] his own sheathing, or, if the city [ takes care of it, ] [several lines lost] is being postponed [ ] appears that the city’s [ ] deliberation and thrift [ ] and most necessary [ ] employed [ ]. The director general and councilors shall officially and dutifully be compelled to provide therein, in having the city’s income managed according to their ordinances, by provisionally qualifying either the honorable Company’s receiver or another capable person thereto, and to give them the reasons for it by means of a public declaration before they announce it to the community, and when it is convenient, to the honorable lords patroons, in order to be revised and changed by them as agrees with their good advice. For which, regarding this matter, before the director general and councilors take action, the burgomasters and schepenen are required and ordered to draw up the continuation of the account, and to show it to the director general and councilors in order to be revised by them, and further settled as is appropriate. Thus done at the meeting of the director general and councilors held in Fort Amsterdam in N: Netherland, the 22nd of January anno 1658.
