The various towns constitute the centers of government,
their jurisdiction extends over the surrounding rural districts, and
the affairs of the whole are administered by a municipal council. The
powers of such councils are manifold and far-reaching and their
importance has been accentuated by the chronic impotency of the
central government to foster public improvements. The councils
exercise all the faculties commonly pertaining to city councils
elsewhere and have control of education, sanitation, streets and roads
in their respective districts. They also act as election boards.
When an outlying hamlet of the rural belt has grown to sufficient size
it is erected into a municipal district or canton and accorded a
justice of the peace and a cantonal chief and governing board. It
remains subject, however, to the municipal council of the commune of
which it formed a part until further development warrants its
segregation as an independent commune with its own council. The
cantons, as well as some of the sections, are also provided with a
cemetery and a small church or chapel.
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