The "magister" became a kind of "Minister of Internal Security, Administrative Oversight and Communications". The holders of the office were the emperor's chief watchdogs. Almost all routine business was channeled to the office of the "magister" through the secretariats from other ministries such as the prefectures, the Treasury ('res summa, from 319 the Sacrae Largitions,') the Crown Estates ('res privata') which performed the function in this respect as control points or bottle bottles to catch and vet information (though higher officials and military officers always had the right and duty to communicate with the emperors if the matter was important enough).