ore than 2000 of whom served in
London. Out-stations were established in various large towns of the
kingdom, and the corps extended its operations also to the colonies.

COMMISSIONER, in general an officer appointed to carry out some
particular work, or to discharge the duty of a particular office; one
who is a member of a commission (q.v.). In this sense the word is
applied to members of a permanently constituted department of the
administration, as civil service commissioners, commissioners of income
tax, commissioners in lunacy, &c. It is also the title given to the
heads of or important officials in various governmental departments, as
commissioner of customs. In some British possessions in Africa and the
Pacific the head of the government is styled high commissioner. In India
a commissioner is the chief administrative official of a division which
includes several districts. The office does not exist in Madras, where
the same duties are discharged by a board of revenue, but is found in
most of the other provinces. The commissioner comes midway between the
local government and the district officer. In the regulation provinces
the district officer is called a collector (q.v.), and in the
non-regulation provinces a deputy-commissioner. In the former he must
always be a member of the covenanted civil service, but in the latter he
may be a military officer.

A chief commissioner is a high Indian official, governing a province
inferior in status to a lieutenant-governorship, but in direct
subordination to the governor-general in council. The provinces which
have chief commissioners are the Central Provinces and Berar, the
North-West Frontier Province and Coorg. The agent to the
governor-general of Baluchistan is also chief commissioner of British
Baluchistan, the agent to the governor-general of Rajputana is also
chief commissioner of the British district of Ajmere-Merwara, and there
is a chief commissioner of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Several
provinces, such as the Punjab, Oudh, Burma and Assam, were administered
by chief commissioners before they were raised to the status of
lieutenant-governorships (see LIEUTENANT).

A commissioner for oaths in England is a solicitor appointed by the lord
chancellor to administer oaths to persons making affidavits for the
purpose of any cause or matter. The Commissioner for Oaths Act 1889
(with an amending act 1891), amending and consolidating various other
acts, regula