Despite these elaborate preparations the new system was not at first a success. In the winter of 1742, when the Havana Company sent its first agent, Domingo Reborato y Solar, to Florida to draw up a contract, it proved a task to try the keenest bargainer. Initially, Montiano and his junta put off the agent, refusing to confer with him. Then, on January 31, 1742, the governor convoked his junta, which agreed to a contract. [Note 87: gov to Havana Co 3/10/1742] Reborato found that the Floridians drove a hard bargain. Immediately they insisted upon invoking Article 29 of the charter, requiring the company to furnish supplies one year in advance. At the same time Montiano and his junta gave Reborato the responsibility of collecting a debt of 250,000 pesos from the viceroy, owing Florida from past subsidies. The Floridians, of course, expected to draw upon this account at will. [Note 88: FL gov and royal officials to king 4/16/1742] Thoroughly outmaneuvered by Montiano and his cohorts, Reborato returned to Havana, where his superiors were furious. Their agent had unwisely agreed to provide supplies for Montiano under Article 29 with no proof that Florida was in desperate condition. In addition, Reborato had agreed to assume the responsibility for collecting the huge debt owing to the province. With little likelihood that even a small part of it would ever be repaid, this was far too heavy a burden for the company to bear, especially in its first years of operation. For this reason the directors of the company immediately abrogated the contract and requested that a new one be drawn up. [Note 89: Havana Co to FL gov 4/18/1742] With the whole affair at an impasse, both Montiano and the company took their cases to the Council of the Indies. The governor stressed the fact that for three years no subsidy had reached Florida. This, he believed, was reason enough to invoke Article 29. He pointed out also that his colony had reached such straits that he had dispatched an agent to Puebla to collect the situado under the old system. [Note 90: FL gov and officials to king 5/22/1742; Testimonio of Havana Co. 1742] In its arguments the company emphasized that it too had not received the subsidy from New Spain. Without it, the directors could not pay for the supplies required by the garrison in Florida, Without the situado, stated the report of the company, it could not act, even under Article 29. In Spain the king and the Council of the Indies pursued a middle course in mediating the dispute. A fiscal of the Council pointed out in August, 1742, that forcing the Havana Company to supply Florida on a credit basis was an undue financial hardship on the new enterprise. He also suggested that the term “dire necessity” or “extraordinary emergency” be more specifically defined so that it would be absolutely clear when Article 29 should be invoked. A month later the king chided both parties for their inability to agree on a contract. In a bit of wishful thinking by which Philip V may have hoped to soften the directors of the company, he stated that the missing subsidies for 1740 and 1741 were bound to arrive in Cuba soon. They would provide funds for supplies the company might ship to Florida in the meantime; but he did not directly order such action. To Montiano the king was sharper. Philip V admonished the governor and his junta to act with “more mature judgment” in making supply contracts with the Cuban agent. The king also justified the action of the company in withholding supplies and in abrogating the first supply contract. (Tepaske GSF)