Word Finder - departments

definition

A part, portion, or subdivision.

definition

A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like.

example

Technical things are not his department; he's a people person.

definition

A subdivision of an organization.

definition

A territorial division; a district; especially, in France, one of the districts into which the country is divided for governmental purposes, similar to a county in the UK and in the USA. France is composed of 101 départements organized in 18 régions, each department is divided into arrondissements, in turn divided into cantons.

definition

A military subdivision of a country

example

the Department of the Potomac

definition

Act of departing; departure.

Both the departments and the communes have considerable public debts.

These departments are subdivided into 362 arrondissements.

The value per acre of land, which exceeds 48 in the departments of Seine, Rhne and those fringing the north-west coast from Nord to Manche inclusive, is on the average about 29, though it drops to 16 and less in Morbihan, Landes, Basses-Pyrnes, and parts of the Alps and the central plateau.

Oats and barley are generally cultivated, the former more especially in the Parisian region, the latter in Mayenne and one or two of the neighboring departments.

Meslin, a mixture of wheat and rye, is produced in the great majority of French departments, but to a marked extent in the basin of the Sarthe.

It is grown largely in the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais and in those of the Seine basin, the southern limit of its cultivation being roughly a line drawn from Bordeaux to Lyons.

Flax is cultivated chiefly in the northern departments of Nord, Seine- Infrieure, Pas-de-Calais, Ctes-du-Nord, hemp in Sarthe, Morbihan and Maine-ct-Loire.

Hops cover only about 7000 acres, being almost confined to the departments of Nord, Cte dOr and Meurthe-etMoselle.

With the exception of Loire, Bouches-du-Rhbne and Rhne, the chief industrial departments of France are to be found in the north and north-east of the country.

Slate is obtained in large quantities from the departments of Maine-ct-Loire (Angers), Ardennes (Fumay) and Mayenne (Renaz).

Stone-quarrying is specially active in the departments round Paris, Seine-et-Oise employing more persons in this occupation than any other department.

The environs of Creil (Oise) and Chteau-Landon (Seine-et-Marne) are noted for their freestone (pierre de taille), which is also abundant at Euville and Lrouville in Meuse; the production of plaster is particularly important in the environs of Paris, of kaolin of fine quality at Yrieix (1-Jaute-Vienne), of hydraulic lime in Ardche (Le Teil), of lime phosphates in the department of Somme, of marble in the departments of HauteGaronne (St Beat), Hautes-Pyrnes (Campan, Sarrancolin), Isre and Pas-de-Calais, and of cement in Pas-de-Calais (vicinity of Boulogne) and Isre (Grenoble).

Flax, Hemp, Jute, &c.The preparation and spinning of these materials and the manufacture of nets and rope, together with the weaving of linen and other fabrics, give occupation to 112,000 persons chiefly in the departments of Nord (Lille, Armentires, Dunkirk), Somme (Amiens) and Maine-et-Loire (Angers, Cholet).

Leather.Tanning and leather-dressing are widely spread industries, and the same may be said of the manufacture of boots and shoes, though these trades employ more hands in the department of Seine than elsewhere; in the manufacture of gloves Isre (Grenoble) and Aveyron (Millau) hold the first place amongst French departments.

Sugar.The manufacture of sugar is carried on in the departments of the north, in which the cultivation of beetroot is general Aisne, Nord, Somme, Pas-de-Calais, Oise and Seine-et-Marne, the three first being by far the largest producers.

Glass is manufactured in the departments of Nord (Aniche, &c.), Seine, Loire (Rive-de-Gier) and Meurthe-et-Moselle, Baccarat in the latter department being famous for its table-glass.

Fisheries.The fishing population of France is most numerous in the Breton departments of Finisire, Cfltes-du-Nord and Morbihan and in Pas-de-Calais.

The canal and river system attains its greatest utility in the north, northeast and north-centre of the country; traffic is thickest along the Seine below Paris; along the rivers and small canals of the rich departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais and along the Oise and the canal of St Quentin whereby they communicate with Paris; along the canal from the Marne to the Rhine and the succession of waterways which unite it with the Oise; along the Canal de lEst (departments of Meuse and Ardennes); and along the waterways uniting Paris with the Sane at Chalon (Seine, Canal du Loing, Canal de Briare, Lateral canal of the Loire and Canal du Centre) and along the Sane between Chalon and Lyons.

Local Government.France is divided into 86 administrative departments (including Corsica) or 87 if the Territory of Belfort, a remnant of the Haut Rhin department, be included.

Besides receiving taxes, they pay the creditors of the state in their departments, conduct all operations affecting departmental loans, buy and sell government stock (rentes) on behalf of individuals, and conduct certain banking operations.

The service in the departments comprises brigades, which are actually engaged in guarding the frontiers, and a clerical staff (service de bureau) entrusted with the collection of the duties.

The chief expenses of the departments are the care of pauper children and lunatics, the maintenance of high-roads and the service of the departmental debt.

In regard to the constitution and maintenance of the naval forces, the administration of the arsenals is divided into three principal departments, the first concerned with naval construction, the second with ordnance, including gun-mountings and small-arms, and the third with the so-called submarine defences, dealing with all torpedo materiel.

Public primary schools include (1) icoles maternellesinfant schools for children from two to six years old; (2) elementary primary schoolsthese are the ordinary schools for children from six to thirteen; (3) higher primary schools (coles primaires suprieures) and supplementary courses; these admit pupils who have gained the certificate of primary elementary studies (cerlificat diludes primaires), offer a more advanced course and prepare for technical instruction; (4) primary technical schools (coles manuelles dapprenlissage, coles primaires suprleures professionnelles) kept by the communes or departments.

Under the Constitution Act the Commonwealth is given the control of the postal and telegraph departments, public defence and several other services, as well as the power of levying customs and excise duties; its powers of taxation are unrestricted, but so far no taxes Dave been imposed other than those just mentioned.

The government is carried on by a ministry of five, with departments for the ducal house and foreign affairs, home affairs, justice, education and public worship and finance.

The institute comprises an academic department (in which all students are enrolled) with a seven years' course, the Phelps Hall bible training school (1892), with a three years' course, and departments of mechanical industries, industries for girls, and agriculture.

Since the early days of international telegraphy, conferences of representatives of government telegraph departments and companies have been held from time to time (Paris 1865, Vienna 1868, Rome 1871 and 1878, St Petersburg 1875, London 1879, Berlin 1885,1885, Paris 1891, Buda Pesth 1896, London 1903).

For purposes of naval organization the Italian coast is divided into three maritime departments, with headquarters at Spezia, Naples and Venice; and into two comandi militari, with headquarters at Taranto and at the island of Maddalena.

Piedmont was organized in six departments on the model of those of France, and a number of French veterans were settled by Napoleon in and near the fortress of Alessandria.

Eight monasteries were expropriated to make room for the chief state departments, pending the construction of more suitable edifices.

Crispi, burdened by the premiership and by the two most important portfolios in the cabinet, was, however, unable to exercise efficient control over all departments of state.

The applications of anthropogeography to human uses give rise to political and commercial geography, in the elucidation of which all the earlier departments or stages have to be considered, together with historical and other purely human conditions.

Wagner's year-book, Geographische Jahrbuch, published at Gotha, is the best systematic record of the progress of geography in all departments; and Haack's Geografihen Kalender, also published annually at Gotha, gives complete lists of the geographical societies and geographers of the world.

Under the Empire he was made prefect successively in several departments, and in 1810 was created a baron.

Indigenous palms grow in the valleys of the Sierra Jose Ignacio, also to some extent in the departments of Minas, Maldonado and Paysandu.

He is assisted by a council of ministers representing the departments of the interior, foreign affairs, finance, war and marine, industry, labour and instruction and public works.

Indianapolis is governed under a form of government adopted originally in a special charter of 1891 and in 1905 incorporated in the new state municipal code, which was based upon it, It provides for a mayor elected every four years, a single legislative chamber, a common council, and various administrative departments - of public safety, public health, &c. The guiding principle of the charter, which is generally accepted as a model of its kind, is that of the complete separation of powers and the absolute placing of responsibility.

This deprives parliament of control over the administrative departments, all the ministries being thus " armour-plated " - to use the cant phrase current in Russia - except that of ways and communications (railways).

Its functions, which are exceedingly various, are carried out by the different departments into which it is divided.

Since about the same time a process of rigorous Russification has been carried through in the same provinces, in all departments of administration, in the higher schools and in the university of Dorpat, the name of which was altered to Yuriev.

The senate, as supreme court of cassation, has two departments, one for civil and one for criminal cases.

In the affairs of his own country he refrained from developing and extending the liberal institutions which he had created immediately after his accession, and he finally adopted in all departments of administration a strongly reactionary policy.

Guchkov attacked the maladministration in the navy, pointing out that no reforms were possible so long as grand-dukes were at the head of its departments.

Research is seriously complicated by the growing stores of material, which unfortunately are often utilized without attention to the principles of the various departments of knowledge or aspects of study.

Their government, effective enough when dealing with natives, breaks down in all departments concerned with Europeans, and becomes the prey of designing traders.

The high commissioner is aided in the administration by a cabinet of three members, styled " councillors " (utµ ovXoe), who superintend the departments of justice, finance, education, public security and the interior.

Minor offences (1rX17gµeVillaTa) and civil causes are tried by courts of first instance in each of the five departments.

The prospect of a final settlement was improved by the withdrawal of Germany and Austria, which had favoured Turkish pretensions, from the European concert (April 1898); the remaining powers divided the island into four departments, which they severally undertook to administer.

Heads of departments and divisions are appointed by the mayor; all other officials are appointed according to the merit system.