SECRETARIA DE COMUNICACIONES Y OBRAS PUBLICAS. 
(SECRETARIAT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND PusBLic WorKS.) 
This secretariat was established by law of July 1, 1891. By reason of its 
recent organization no material except for very recent history would, of 
course, be found in its archives, unless older archives had been transferred to 
it. This, it is stated by the Honorable Minister, is not the case. Nothing 
need be said, therefore, with respect to the department, except to indicate the 
general nature of its functions. These are classified in the annual Memoria 
of the department for June, 1907, under the heads: 
Roads and bridges, railroads, telegraphs, mail service, National Palace, 
Palace of Chapultepec, Palace of the Federal Legislative Authority, Post- 
office building, new building for the secretariat, building for coach drivers 
and the Federal mail service, school buildings, ports, navigation lines under 
contract to carry mails, Hydrographic Commission, lighthouses. 
For each of these branches of administration the secretariat has general 
supervision. For railroads and mail service it grants concessions and makes 
contracts. The Direction of Telegraphs, a subdivision of the secretariat, has 
charge of all matters relative to the construction of lines, international service, 
tariffs, statistics of the service, etc. 
It will be seen that many of the functions of the department have formerly 
been performed by the older secretariats. 
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