ABSTRACT
The most important secular agency under the Cabinet was the Office of Revenue. Its most important function was to maintain up-to-date records of the government's as well as the estates' lands and herds and of the revenue derived from them. To assist the government in the management of revenue, an Investigating Department of Land Taxes was created in the 1940s to check the payment of land taxes in kind from estates and government mi-ser under guidelines issued by the Cabinet. Although other departments were occasionally assigned investigating roles, the Tsikhang was the chief instrument for the Cabinet's supervisory control over government agencies and the economy. State oracles were selected for political advice and appointed as monk officials. The civil administrators of the districts were primarily responsible for the supply of the military forces. The center of the district, the dzong, was originally a fortress and military supply base.
