Deakin became Commissioner for Public Works and Water Supply in 1883, and the following year became Solicitor-General and Minister of Public Works. In 1885 Deakin secured the passage of the colony's pioneering Factories and Shops Act, enforcing regulation of employment conditions and hours of work. In December 1884 he went to the United States to investigate irrigation, and presented a report in June 1885, "Irrigation in Western America". Percival Serle described this report as "a remarkable piece of accurate observation, and was immediately reprinted by the United States government". In June 1886, he introduced legislation to nationalise water rights and provide state aid for irrigation works that helped establish irrigation in Australia.