District Commission
Original title: Comissão Distrital
The District Commissions replaced the General Juntas in 1892 as administrative-litigation bodies; in Funchal the arrangement ended in 1901 with a special autonomous organisation.
The District Committees (Comissões Distritais) replaced the General Councils (Juntas Gerais) when these were abolished by the Decree of 6 August 1892. Under the codes of 1895 and 1896 they had powers of administrative litigation, and they were made up of the civil governor, as president, the Administrative Auditor and three members elected by delegates of the Municipal Councils (Câmaras Municipais).
The District Commission of Funchal ceased to exist with the organisation and powers described in the code of 1896 after the decree of 8 August 1901 applied to this district the special organisation granted to the Azorean districts by the law of 12 June 1901.
The District Committees referred to in the administrative codes of 1878 and 1886 were made up of three representatives appointed by the General Councils at their first meeting after election, and were therefore no more than mere delegates of these bodies.
The law of 7 August 1913 gave the Executive Committees (formerly the District Committees), as delegates of the General Councils, the power to audit the management accounts of brotherhoods, confraternities, etc., and to approve the budgets of these bodies.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 03-
A decree abolished the district General Juntas, including Funchal's, replacing them with District Commissions.
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Following the law of 22 May 1901, a decree of 8 August 1901 extended the Azorean autonomous regime to the district of Funchal, creating a directly elected Junta Geral that took over the district public works; road-building followed.
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The administrative law of 7 August 1913 set municipal council sizes, fixed the Junta Geral's composition with a three-member executive committee, gave executive commissions oversight of brotherhoods' accounts and left administrative tribunal powers unchanged.
Place
Places mentioned · 02
Abroad
- Azores
Portugal. The special organisation granted to the Azorean districts was extended to Funchal.
The Azores, an Atlantic archipelago that shares plant species with Madeira. The Elucidário records settlement there by Madeiran families such as the Bettencourts, the 1801 ban on Azorean wines in Madeira, and imports of Azorean tobacco. It also notes that Azorean farmers were brought to Madeira to teach maize-growing methods.
- Funchal
The District Commission of Funchal ceased under the 1901 reorganisation.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.