 Therefore the Netherlands Trading Society had to agree beforehand on paying for this advantage, instead of using (or being forced to use by law) her monopoly to drive down prices on steamships to the level of those for sailing ships.The guarantee was devised such that on each return trip to the Netherlands Trading Society would guarantee a cargo of 600 lasts (c. 1,200 tons), but in total not more than 4,800 lasts in the first year.The guaranteed price would be 22,50 guilders higher than the average price agreed by the NTS for sailing ships in the previous 12 months.