[3] Bagnall rose within the civil service to become Treasurer, before being appointed Minister of Finance in January 1919, also becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly.
[4] The presence of four Europeans in key positions (Herbert Cecil Stronge as Chief Justice, James Darrell Wall as Auditor-General and Alexander Brooke Wallace as Minister for Public Works) led to a rebellion by opposition MPs, who held a majority in the Assembly.
[4] However, when a new Chief Justice William Hemming Stuart arrived in 1938, Bagnall fell foul of his new ministerial colleague.
As a result of Stuart's repeated attacks on Bagnall, meetings of the cabinet and Privy Council had to be suspended by Sālote.
[5] On the same day that the judgement was released, Sālote asked the British High Commissioner Harry Luke to recall Stuart.