BRUCE, STANLEY MELBOURNE ), Aus tralian statesman, was born in Melbourne on April 1883, and was educated at Melbourne grammar school, and Trinity hall, Cambridge. He was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1907, but shortly afterwards he inherited a partnership in the Mel bourne firm of merchants, Paterson, Laing and Bruce. He was again in England when the World War began, received a commis sion in the Royal Fusiliers, took part in the landing at Suvla bay and was seriously wounded. Later he served in France, was again wounded, and in 1917, was invalided back to Australia. In that year, on the elevation of Sir William Ervine to the chief justiceship of Victoria, he was returned to the Commonwealth Parliament for Flinders. Bruce's political progress was extraordinarily rapid. In 1921 he represented Australia at the second Assembly of the League of Nations. Soon after, Bruce succeeded Sir Joseph Cook as treasurer in the cabinet led by W. M. Hughes (1921-23). In this office, which is second to that of the prime minister, Bruce's knowledge of commerce and law proved extremely useful, and he soon built up a reputation as an essentially sane and level headed man of affairs rather than an orator or picturesque leader of men. These qualities appealed to a country burdened by heavy war debts and many problems arising out of the war. Bruce profited, too, by the growing dislike of the National Party formed by Hughes during the war. In Feb. 1923 the tottering Hughes ministry fell, and Bruce, as the leader of the Liberal wing of the National Party, succeeded in forming an alliance with the leader of the Country Party, Dr. Earle Page, who took office as treasurer. In 1925, a series of strikes led to a crisis in the shipping trade, and Bruce appealed to the country in a general election in Novem ber. The result was a decisive triumph for Bruce, and a heavy defeat for the Labour Party. In imperial affairs he might be described in Bagehot's phrase as an apostle of animated modera tion, standing for as warm and close a relationship with Great Britain as is consistent with Australia's interests as a completely self-governing dominion. Under his leadership the Federal Parlia ment maintained the customs preference to British goods and agreed to a great migration scheme—though the fruits of this latter project were, owing to the difficulties of the states, rather disappointing; and at every opportunity, notably the Imperial Conferences in 1923 and 1926 (see BRITISH EMPIRE), he showed himself to be a staunch believer in the future of a British common wealth of nations with Great Britain as its head. Like Hughes, however, he strongly distrusted any form of imperial federation.
Bruce was prime minister until the year 1929. He was appointed Australian Minister in London in 1932. He was created a Com panion of Honour, 1927.