He also encouraged a gold rush. His tendency to drink excessively became the subject of increasing concern, especially during certain incidents in 1873. In February of that year, for example, he was found in an inebriated state on the roof of his residency, threatening police officers with a gun. Attempts to introduce order into his administration were in vain, and he was made to resign in June at the request of commissioner Thomas Reynolds. In April 1874, the South Australian government gave Douglas a new task: to travel to Singapore to recruit gold miners for the Northern Territory. After successfully recruiting almost 200 individuals, he decided to stay in Singapore rather than return to Australia. He worked as a police magistrate for a short time before being appointed Acting Assistant Resident of Selangor in November 1875, and Acting Resident in April 1876. As had happened previously, various deficiencies affected Douglas's performance and led to criticism. This included an inability to control his temper, resulting in frequent arguments with Chinese and Malay officials. He faced significant criticism in an 1879 inquiry, which found a lack of organisation in the treasury and land offices. He moved his headquarters to Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to remedy the situation, but was asked to resign in 1882 after further issues came to light. In 1893 Douglas moved to Canada, where he worked for the Department of Marine and Fisheries, first in the tidal service and later as an examiner. When applying for this latter job, he lied about his age, claiming he was only 65 when he was in fact 74. Between 1900 and 1903, he worked in Halifax as a departmental inspector, before becoming an examiner again. He remained in this position until his death on 5 March 1906. Douglas was married twice. His first marriage was to Ellen (née Atkinson) in April 1848, with whom he had eight children including a daughter with an intellectual disability. Ellen died in 1887. Douglas remarried in January 1899 to Annie Maude (née McDonald), the daughter of the collector of customs for Sydney, Nova Scotia.