On 3 November 1868 he became commissioner of public works in the Strangways ministry, but when this cabinet was reconstructed in May 1870 he was omitted. He was Mayor of Adelaide 1874–5, and on 3 June 1875 joined the second Boucaut ministry as Treasurer of South Australia, but he resigned in March 1876. On 6 June he formed his first ministry as premier and commissioner of public works. His ministry lasted until 26 October 1877, when it resigned after a constitutional struggle with the upper house, which had not been consulted about the new parliamentary buildings. The government, however, had succeeded in passing a liberalized crown lands consolidation bill, and a forward policy of public works in connexion with railways and water supply had been carried out.