It is of course to the credit of Abdur Rahman that he began his task at the beginning. At the time of his succession the system of government was so involved that the entire machinery of the civil administration was carried on by a staff of ten clerks, who were controlled by an official combining within himself the functions of every executive officer.[31] There were no public offices and the seat of government was the bedroom of this man. There were no books; the statements of expenditure and the records of government business were entered upon small slips of paper, 8 inches long and 6 inches wide, each sheet containing the briefest abstract of the matter with which it was concerned. If any reference were required it frequently happened that thousands of these pages had to be examined. In order to remedy this system of keeping records Abdur Rahman introduced ledgers and record books, the defacement of which was an offence punishable by the amputation of the fingers. From this, in due course, he proceeded to create a military and civil administration. Under military administration, in addition to the armed forces of the army, militia and levies, he included the departments concerned with the manufacture of every variety of war material and the industries associated with each. All workmen employed in these concerns and all foreigners, whose services were retained by the Government, were brought within the supervision of the military bureau. Upon the military side, too, he arranged that pay-sheets should be honoured monthly, while treasury disbursements, which were incorporated in the revenue branch of the civil department, were made annually or, in certain exceptions, bi-yearly.