Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/293

Rh Western, capital Port-au-Prince, which is also the capital of the Republic; the Artibonite, capital Gonaives; the Northwestern, capital Port-de-Paix; the Northern, capital Cap-Haitien, and the Southern, capital Cayes. A Delegate appointed by the President is at the head of each Department. The arrondissements and communes are under the rule of officers appointed by the President and respectively called Commandants of arrondissements and Commandants of "places" and communes.

The Commandant of an arrondissement exercises both civil and military power. As the representative of the Executive Power he has all the armed force of his territory under his authority, and is responsible for the maintaining of peace and order. He has about the same prerogatives as those conferred upon the prefects in France. In all military matters he is in direct communication with the President and the Secretary of War, whilst in administrative business he is dependent upon the Secretary of the Interior. The Commandant of a commune has the special care of the mending of roads, the control of agriculture and the police.

The civil and financial interests of each commune are managed by an independent body elected for three years by the people and called the Communal Council. Out of its members this council elects a chairman who assumes the title of Communal Magistrate and whose powers resemble those of a mayor. Apart from the foregoing territorial divisions Haiti is subdivided into financial administrations, academic circumscriptions, jurisdictions, and dioceses. For the whole country there are eleven ports open to commerce with foreign countries; there are eleven financial administrations, at the head of which is a functionary called the Administrator of Finance. In each