In 1720 the accountant at Saint Augustine, Francisco Menendez Marques, proposed a new method for filling his position. He wanted the privilege of naming his own successor. In this way, he explained, he could keep the office out of the hands of an incompetent interim appointee; he could train his own replacement in accountancy techniques and save the governor the embarrassment over a possible poor temporary choice. [Note: Contador de la Florida to king 2/23/1720] When this proposal reached Spain [1721], however, it failed to impress the king and the Council of the Indies, who saw no reason to change existing methods. They saw his plan either as a scheme to obtain retirement funds by peddling his office to the highest bidder or as a conspiracy to take power properly belonging to the governor and his Spanish superiors. The king flatly rejected... [9/5/1721] (Tepaske GSF) AN309