However, he occasionally carried out more prominent work. In 1932, he was selected on the advice of now Attorney-General John Latham to chair the Indian Defence Expenditure Tribunal, to advise on the dispute between India and the United Kingdom regarding the costs of the military defence of India. In 1934, along with John Keating, William Somerville and David John Gilbert, he formed a committee which prepared The Case for Union,[34] the Government of Australia's official reply to the secessionist movement in the state of Western Australia.