Bertram Stevens (politician)

The Honourable
Sir Bertram Stevens
KCMG

Stevens with members of his cabinet
25th Premier of New South Wales
Elections: 1932, 1935, 1938
In office
16 May 1932  5 August 1939
Monarch George V
Edward VIII
George VI
Governor Lord Wakehurst
Deputy Michael Bruxner
Preceded by Jack Lang
Succeeded by Alexander Mair
Personal details
Born (1889-01-02)2 January 1889
Redfern, New South Wales
Died 23 March 1973(1973-03-23) (aged 84)
Concord, New South Wales
Political party United Australia Party
Spouse(s) Edith Lillie Anderson

Sir Bertram Sydney Barnsdale Stevens KCMG (2 January 1889 – 24 March 1973) was an Australian politician and the Premier of New South Wales from 16 May 1932 to 5 August 1939.

Early life

Stevens was born in the Sydney suburb of Redfern and attended Fort Street High School. An accountant by training, the teetotal Methodist Stevens worked for years in local government and various civil service departments. In 1914, he married Edith Lillie Anderson and they had one son and two daughters. In 1924, he became under-secretary and director of finance at the State Treasury, where he came into conflict with the ALP Premier and Treasurer, Jack Lang and subsequently resigned. In 1927, he became an alderman on Marrickville Council.[1]

Political career

In 1927 Stevens entered the Legislative Assembly, as member for the Sydney suburban electoral district of Croydon. During the Nationalist Party Premiership of Sir Thomas Bavin, Stevens served first as Assistant Treasurer, and from 1929 as Treasurer.[2] Not long after the Great Depression ended Bavin's administration in 1930, Stevens became Deputy Leader of the Opposition. In 1932 the Nationalist Party was absorbed into the United Australia Party, and Stevens became that party's state parliamentary leader. In May 1932 the Governor Sir Philip Game dismissed the Lang government, which was in dispute with Australia's federal government of James Scullin, and appointed Stevens as caretaker Premier. Stevens immediately called a new state election, which his party won in a landslide. His major reform was the replacement of the appointed Legislative Council, by a Council elected by the whole parliament to terms equivalent to four Assembly terms, that is up to 12 years; this was passed by referendum in 1933. He reduced the protections for mortgagors and tenants that had been introduced by Lang's 1925–27 government. The UAP was re-elected (by somewhat reduced majorities) in 1935 and 1938, each time against the Lang-led Labor Party. For most of Stevens's seven-year Premiership, one of the longest in New South Wales history — it continued until the eve of World War II — he was his own Treasurer.

Premier Bertram Stevens (left) at a polling place in Croydon on 13 May 1935.

Although Stevens's dealings with Country Party leader and Deputy Premier Sir Michael Bruxner were friendly, the same was not true of his working relationship with the United Australia Party's deputy leader, Eric Spooner. From 1936 onward, Spooner often censured Stevens for not running a balanced budget. Finally, in July 1939, Spooner resigned from cabinet. On 1 August, Spooner moved a parliamentary no confidence motion against Stevens's administration, succeeding by two votes. Stevens resigned, and Alexander Mair (Bruxner's favoured candidate) took over the Premiership.

Still only 50 years old, Stevens had hopes of a career in the federal parliament. Despite Sir Robert Menzies's attempts to discourage him, he abandoned his Assembly seat in 1940 and ran for the Labor-controlled constituency of Lang (named not after Stevens's opponent but after John Dunmore Lang, the 19th-century clergyman-politician) during that year's federal election. He was easily defeated by the ALP incumbent, Dan Mulcahy.

Later life

In 1941 and 1942, Stevens served as the Australian representative to the Eastern Group Supply Council in New Delhi. After the war, Stevens was president of the India League of Australia, and wrote prolifically upon Indian politics; but he never again held, or sought, elective office. He died in the Sydney suburb of Concord West, poor and almost forgotten, survived by a son and two daughters.

Honours

Stevens was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1941.

See also

References

  1. Ward, John M. "Stevens, Sir Bertram Sydney Barnsdale (1889–1973)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
  2. "Sir Bertram Sydney Barnsdale Stevens (1889–1973)". Members of Parliament. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 25 April 2007.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bertram Stevens (politician).
Government offices
Preceded by
John Spence
Under Secretary and Comptroller of Accounts of the NSW Treasury
1924  1925
Succeeded by
Clarence Chapman
Parliament of New South Wales
New district Member for Croydon
1927  1940
Succeeded by
David Hunter
Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Cruickshank
Assistant Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales
1927  1929
Vacant
Title next held by
Eric Spooner
as Assistant Treasurer
Preceded by
Thomas Bavin
Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales
1929  1930
Succeeded by
Jack Lang
Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales
1932
Preceded by
Jack Lang
Premier of New South Wales
1932  1939
Succeeded by
Alexander Mair
Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales
1932  1938
Preceded by
Reginald Weaver
Secretary for Public Works
1935
Succeeded by
Eric Spooner
Preceded by
Eric Spooner
Secretary for Public Works
1939
Succeeded by
Alexander Mair
Minister for Local Government
1939
Party political offices
Preceded by
Thomas Bavin
Leader of the United Australia Party
1932  1939
Succeeded by
Alexander Mair
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