He accepted office without portfolio in the Duncan Gillies-Alfred Deakin Government on 20 April 1886, and acted as Minister of Defence during Sir James Lorimer's absence in England, in 1887.
He also assisted Mr. Dow in discharging the duties of Minister of Water Supply during Mr. Deakin's attendance at the Colonial Conference in London in that year.
After the Bank collapsed due to land speculation in 1892, Bell and other directors were charged with conspiring to produce "a false and fraudulent balance sheet".
[3] James Bell and Company was also a major grain exporter, having branches in Adelaide, Sydney and South Africa as well as the Melbourne headquarters.
[1] Bell died on 24 February 1908, at his home Sherbrook, Elsternwick, Victoria,[1] survived by his wife Elizabeth (née Riddell), and all but two of their eleven children.