Cook has been viewed as an orthodox but unimaginative Treasurer whose conservatism with regard to government spending may have been unsuited to the needs of post-war reconstruction . One notable initiative of his was the transfer of responsibility for issuing banknotes from the Treasury Department to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia . The bank 's governor Denison Miller regarded this as " the first and most important step in the enlargement of the Commonwealth Bank into a national bank in every sense of the word " . Cook 's final months in parliament were spent as Acting Prime Minister , as Hughes was out of the country for five months attending the 1921 Imperial Conference in London . In November 1921 , it was announced that he would be appointed as Australia 's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in place of Andrew Fisher , whose term had ended earlier that year
1921 Imperial Conference
1921 Imperial Conference
Joseph Cook