As we have seen, the resignation of van der Heide had been followed
by a collapse in the Department of Canals, which, in 1912, was incorporated
in the Ministry of Communications (a revamped version of the
Ministry of Public Works) as a Department of Ways. The stress was
laid on transportation facilities, by land as well as by water. However,
irrigation needs were also to be satisfied by the work of a section on
waterways within this department. Another foreign influence again
brought about reorganization, however, for a British irrigation adviser
-perhaps with more influence than his Dutch predecessor-now recommended
strengthening the program of water works for agriculture, Accordingly,
the section on waterways was taken out of the Department
of Ways in the Ministry of Communications and returned in 1914 to the
Ministry of Agriculture as a new Department of Irrigation.
In 1920, a proclamation on the service in the Ministry of Agriculture
was issued, recognizing five substantive departments: Land Registry,
Cultivation, Mines and Geology, Irrigation, and a newly formed Land
Survey Department.