By September 1942, Matthews and Wells had consolidated and expanded their organisation. All intelligence gathered was passed to Matthews and collated. He managed to make contact with Filipino resistance fighters operating on the Sulu Archipelago in the south-west Philippines, who assisted Australian POWs to escape. The Japanese transferred the civilian internees from Berhala Island to the Batu Lintang camp near Kuching in Sarawak in January 1943. Matthews had gained the trust of the Governor of North Borneo, Robert Smith, who had been interned nearby and, when the civilian internees departed he was placed in effective command of the British North Borneo Constabulary despite being a POW. While he had several opportunities to escape, Matthews decided to remain with his fellow POWs and continue running his covert organisation at great risk to himself. He made plans to rise up against the Japanese if the Allies landed in Borneo, and initiated the building of a radio transmitter.