Flying Premier

Australians, like the sturdy U. S. pioneers, have not been too ready in the past to vote for a man who habitually wore spats. When Stanley Melbourne Bruce, now Prime Minister of Australia, first came before the electorate as a young man in spats he was reviled, hooted and mercilessly cartooned. Only his six feet of strapping manhood, a resolute independence, and the light of command in his steady eyes have enabled him to carry off this idiosyncrasy in triumph through the years. Last week he prepared to carry off a new whim which seemed to some Australians more foolhardy even than spats.

To friends Mr. Bruce pointed out an exceedingly wide set of "garage doors" opening from the cellar of his residence near Melbourne. The doors swung back, revealing an airplane. Said Prime Minister Bruce: "I got it to fly back and forth between here and Canberra."

Since Canberra, the new Federal Capital of Australia (TIME, April 18), is connected with the nearest railway only by a 40-mile bus line, and lies some 300 miles from Melbourne, the plane put into service by Prime Minister Bruce seemed a "necessary luxury." It will enable him to finish breakfast at 8 a. m. in Melbourne and still reach his desk in Canberra in time for an only slightly late morning's work.