A process of continual readjustment and redistribution of functions
went on during this period. Some minor changes at this time illustrate
this process. In 1920, a new Ministry of Commerce was formed out of
a pre-existing Department of Commerce and Statistics.which had been
in the Ministry of Finance.
It will be recalled that in its first phase the Ministry of Agriculture
had been called a Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, being charged
with responsibility for assistance in marketing, as well as production.
Although the commercial aspects of its work were largely removed from
the Ministry, some of them continued. Thus, the Land Registry Department
contained a Goods Reporting Section, which collected statistics
on prices, production of crops and animals, rainfall, water levels,
and even foreign commodity prices affecting export markets. With the
establishment of a Ministry of Commerce, this section was now transferred
to the new ministry, as was a Division of Company Registration
which had also been formed in the Ministry of Agriculture.