On
14 April 1777, various orders that had been requested earlier were renewed along the coast. To promote trade, they made recommendations to the subordinate trading posts. Now that they were able to supply various goods, they would ensure that everything for
Mataie would be prepared quickly, and also the last requested 4 small boats for
Malacca would be made ready.
The orders to keep foreign Europeans away from this coast were renewed, as well as the orders against:
- buying and selling subjects of His Majesty the King of Spain who had been made slaves by the Moors
- transporting more than the permitted number of slaves belonging to private individuals on the Company's ships and vessels
- bringing more Chinese passengers than the allowed number of 6 people per vessel
As was the yearly custom, they were busy preparing the ordinary 8 cruiser ships against pirates and to protect private shipping and trade along this coast. To encourage and promote this, they sent strong recommendations to the subordinate coastal trading posts to encourage private individuals to transport products, especially rice, to
Batavia.
However, there was concern that private shipping would decline because in recent years several private individuals had lost their vessels, some had sold theirs or stopped using them, and few new ones were being built. The number had decreased so much that there was now a shortage of vessels in
Semarang and nearly all trading posts, and thus also a lack of opportunity for large-scale transport of products. They feared that the private shipping and trade from
Java, which was especially useful for
Batavia, would decline year after year unless private individuals were encouraged to build new vessels.
Regarding the trade books of this government from the year 1772/73, which had not been received, they requested that these be sent, as well as those from the following years.
Concerning ammunition and weapons storage goods, they mentioned goods found at the post
Bancallang according to statements from commissioners, which they had to withdraw on
14 April 1777, and compared the trade books of 1776/77 against the reports from the general inventory at the end of August 1776.