Mss Eur Mack Private 48

p. i: Choromandel 1716. - Memorie voor, de Heer Gelmer Vosburgh als Commissaris, en Consideratien over eenige poincten in voorsz: Memorie vervat, mitsgaders drie Stux Memorien voor de Heer(n) gouverneurs Joannes van Steenlant, Daniel Bernard en Adriaan De Visscher ged(t) 12 februarij 1716: Memoir for M. Gelmer Vosburgh as Commissioner-& consideration of certain points in the Memoir with Memoirs addressed to the Governors Joannes van Steenlant, Daniel Bernard & Adrian de Fisscher-1716. [All the remaining contents of this volume are in Dutch, and all are copies.] pp. iii-viii: Table of Contents of 1 and 2 infra. Its title refers, however, only to 1.

1, pp. 1-79: [Pulicat, 1696]. Memorie voor de H(r) Gelmer Vosburgh tegenwoordig Gouverneur op Malacca 'en bij Resolutie van den 10: Aug(s) deses Jaars aangesteld en verkoor en tot Gouverneur en directeur mitsgaders Comissaris over den handel en ommeslag der E: Comp(s) ter Custe Chormandel om sig daar na te Reguleeren. Letter of Instructions from the Supreme Government at Batavia. Deals chiefly with the following subjects: p. 1: Resignation of Governor Lourens Pit and appointment of Vosburgh to succeed him, with a special commission to reform abuses, hold a strict audit, &c., putting in at all the stations from Bimlipatam to Negapatam on his way, and having a special staff to do the checking of the goods in the Company's warehouses in these and the Southern stations; p. 11: Strict economy enjoined; audits in future to be annual; all efforts to be made to restore. Coromandel to its former prosperity; Government orders, neglected in the past, to be more strictly carried out; causes of the decline of the trade; extract from a letter hom the Directors dated 27 August 1694 on the regulations proposed by Van Meijdregt; p. 20: Whether direct sale of goods to traders (dispensing with brokers) is to be maintained; the Ceylon areca-nut trade to be conditionally thrown open to traders; the surplus stock of Malabar areca-nuts, and various trade-goods from Persia and Bengal, &c., to be sold and disposed of (a complaint is made of English competition flooding the market); and general directions as to methods of trading; p. 31: Cotton goods to be bleached before purchased by the Company; European staff at Portonovo; unfair English interference at Tegenepatnam; negotiations with the English governor of Madras as to differences arising from desertions of the servants of either Company; disposal of Dutch Company's surplus shipping; private trading by servants of the Company to be suppressed; enquiry into the Company's contracts with wea.vers, &c.; abuses at Bimlipatam and Daatcherom; slackness of trade in North Coromandel; duties imposed by the native authorities, and other troubles and disputes; no goods to be sent to Golconda till further orders; minimum selling prices for cash of cloves, mace, cinnamon, &c. ; bankruptcy of a native trader causing loss to the Company; p.46: Enquiry to be made regarding the causes of the dearness and bad quality of some of the Coromandel cotton goods; short lengths not to be accepted; a proposal to dispense with the traders' guilds and deal direct with any seller of cotton goods to be carefully considered; cotton goods from Tanjore; inspection of the Northern and Southern outstations; abuses at Bimlipatam; enquiries to be made as to matters at Palicol, Daatcherom, Golconda, and Masulipatam, disputes and mismanagement at Pulicat, irregularities in the administration of the mints there and at Negapatam, and bad management of trade at Sadras; p.67: Economy enjoined; number of Company's servants in Coromandel; some reductions to be made in the staff; Tegenepatnam and Poedecherij [=Pondicherry], trade to be concentrated at Pondicherry; no advances of salary to be made; no substantial public works to be undertaken without express orders; economy in the matter of supplies for ships and travelling expenses, &c.; as to a certain envoy from the King of Siam to the Great Moghul, and his indebtedness to the Company; charges made against the outgoing Governor Pit and also against his accuser, the Fiscal Ploos van Amstel, to be enquired into.

2, pp. 81-96 : In 't Casteel Geldria tot Palliacatta [=Pulicat], 1 October 1700. Notificatien, en consideratien over eenige Salcen, en poincten vervat, en de begrepen, in de memorie door haar hoog Edelhedens, de heeren van de hoge Indise regering tot Batavia in den jare 1696. geconcipieert en op gestelt, voor den heer Gelmer Vosburg, doenmaals gouverneur tot Malacca, dog te dier tijd verkoren en aangestelt tot gouverneur en directeur mitsgaders commissaris over den handel en ommeslag van d' E Comp: te deser custe chormandel. By Governor Dirk Comans, being a reply to the preceding. The chief matters dealt with are:- p.83: Audit of books and checking of trade goods in store; causes of delay in carrying this out; general state of the Company's affairs in Coromandel; brokers unnecessary; the Malabar areca-nuts in store should be burnt; madder root in demand, and should be got from Bengal; cotton goods to be bought ready bleached; p.89 : Pondicherry having been restored to the French, Portonovo gains in importance; disposal of the Company's ships; the mints at Negapatam and Pulicat ; and the Pit enquiry.

3, (a) pp. 96 a and b: Table of Contents. (b) pp. 97-135: Nagapatnam [=Negapatam], 23 September 1705. Memorie off Notitie voor den Ed(1e) heere Gouverneur Joannes van Steelant. A copy (with slight verbal variations) of 47.I.5 (b) supra, q.v.

4, (a) pp.136 i, j and k: Table of Contents. (b) pp. 137-93: Nagapatnam [=Negapatam], 30 September 1710. Memorie ten verzoeke van den Edelen heer Daniel Bernard. . . . A copy (with slight verbal variations) of 47.I. 6 (b) supra, q.v.

5, (a) pp. 194 c-f: Table of Contents. (b) pp. 195-268: Nagapatnam [=Negapatam], 12 February 1716. Memorie voor den Edele Heer Adriaan De Visser gouverneur en directeur deser Custe Chormandel met den resorte van dien, bij Daniel Bernard oud gouverneur ter gemelde Custe, ingevolge der gevenereerde ordre van haar Edele agtb:hedens de hoge regeringe van Indien, opgesteld, en 't zijner. Vertrek van Nagapatnam per het fregat De Meervliet naar Batavia aan desselvs genoemden vervanger overgegeven. This is the memoir of which 47.II.7 (b) supra is merely an abridgment. The chief subjects dealt with are: p.198: Particulars relating to the Dutch Company's trade in cotton goods on the Coromandel Coast, the system on which it was conducted, and references to official instructions concerning the same ; p. 203: Current matters relating to the trade in Persian madder root, Japanese camphor and silk goods ; mint and assays ; p. 215: Native rulers in North and South Coromandel (Golconda, the Carnatic, &c.); relations of the Dutch Company with various native princes, particularly the troubles at Pulicat and difficulties with the Prince of Tanjore (herein particulars as to some elephants shipped from Ceylon); p. 234: Bugis garrison ; native police ; purchase of rice; repairs to the fort at Pulicat and public buildings at Negapatam ; matters relating to the trading communities at Portonovo, Sadras, Palicol, Bimlipatam, the station at Golconda, and individual native agents and servants of the Dutch Company and other natives (who had in some cases been convicted of offences entailing sequestration of their property) ; judicial proceedings at Masulipatam against Dutch officials ; complaints against an official at Palicol ; and other matters of current business and administrative interest.