From 1875 the provinces were bodies combining regional home rule through representatives delegated from each rural and urban district ( and ), forming the provincial diet () with a 6-year term, which elected from its midst a head of this self-administration, the Landesdirektor (with a 6 to 12-year term), and a provincial government (, ) as well as part of the superordinated overall Prussian royal administration, supervising - on a provincial range - the self-governing municipalities and counties as well as each governorate (, mere supervising bodies of the Prussian government). For this purpose, the respective Prussian minister of interior affairs appointed a High Commissioner () to each province, who fulfilled his task with the help of a Prussian government-appointed provincial council ().