Evening star., 1923-12-04
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENOY.

Bf THE MAHa USE DE FONTENOf.
In the great gathering which has
just taken place in London of the
prime ministers of all the great over
sea more or less autonomous depend
encies of the British crown for the
purpose of discussing the relations of
these various dominions, common
wealths, unions and colonies which 60
to make up the British empire with
the mother country, the one statesman
who seems to have made the strongest
impression is the Right Hon. Stanley
II. Bruce, the prime minister OF Aus
tralia, who arrives in New York from
England on Friday of this week. He
has been the outstanding figure Of the
imperial congress and, as such, was
treated with a most marked distinction
by King George, Queen Mary, by the
government and by the great captains
of industry and princes of finance of
the city of London.
AS but little is to be found about
him in the standard works of refer
ance for the present year it may be, in
view of his impending arrival, of timely
interest to state that he has only been
in politics since the conclusion of the
great war. through which he served
IS an officer Of the royal field artillery,
first of all in France, then on the pen
nsula of Gallipoli, with the AnzacS,
thereafter in the conquest of Palestine
and in the taking of Jerusalem under
the command of Field Marshal Lord
Allenby and, finally, again in France
Turing the concluding operations there
~iTasf %
the Military Cross and the Distin-
yuished Service Order. as we'll as the
French Legion of Honor, for gallantry
IN the battlefield, as well as couple
| of wounds. and it was the favor which
| he won among his Australian COM
| cades and fellow veterans on the va
| rious battle fronts that led him, at
their instance, to turn his attention to
public life. Stanley Bruce quickly
; made his way in politics to such an
extent that he was appointed one of
the principal delegates of the COM
monwealth of Australia to the congress
| of the league of nations at Geneva
! in 1921.
| =; !: i ::
Still under forty and looking at
] least five years younger, "Janey''
Bruce commends himself to the good
will of the Australians, who have the
| sporting instinct very strongly devel-
| oped in them, by the fact that at
| the great public school of Melbourne
| the oldest In the antipodes and the
Australian counterpart of Rugby In
| England, he achieved pre-eminence
as an athlete. and especially by his
prowess on the foot ball field and as
a cricketer. In 1902 he came to Eng
4 ri,
! ity College, Cambridge, and not only
/ lived up 10 all the athletic tradi-
1 tions of his school at Melbourne, but
\ soon achieved prominence as an oar
| Indeed, before graduation he had won
! a place in the Cambridge boat, row.
| ing No. 2 in the crew which beat Ok.
| ford on the Thames in the annual
| boat race between Cambridge and Ok
| ford in 1904. Indeed; so splendid was
the record which he left at his alma
| mater that in 1911 he returned all the
way from Melbourne, on the invita-.
| tion of the university, In order tc
coach the Cambridge University ere"
| for that year.
/ In the meantime Janey Bruce hat
entered on very successful bus1'
ness career and became partner o.
| the Melbourne firm Of Paterson
Laing & Bruce, perhaps the larges
importing house in Australia H'
1 happened to be in England on bust
ness when the great war broke ou
and Immediately enlisted there in the
ranks for active service in France
1t was not many weeks before he woi
his commission, and by the end o.
, the year had been promoted to a cap
taincy of the Royal Fusileers. AS
have pointed out above. he took a yer!
active part in the fighting and, frs
| wounded at Gallipoli. he received hi
/ second wound, one of much create
,everfty, in Franco, just before TIN
proclamation Of the armistice. It Il
to the secoSS wound which placed hin