The 1885 Bruce by-election was a by-election held on 5 August 1885 in the electorate during the 9th New Zealand Parliament.
The by-election was held after the resignation of Robert Gillies for health reasons. He had won the seat at the general .
He was replaced by Donald Reid.
The runner-up James McDonald had represented Bruce up to the . A former representative of the Bruce electorate, William Murray, was invited to contest the by-election but he declined.[1]
J. C. Anderson was born in Bruce and had farmed there for thirteen years.[2]
William Hutchison wrote that he had "many pleasant memories" of the electorate[3] but another correspondent said it was a "very palpable defeat" and denied that the Kaitangata miners were told how to vote.[4]
The following table gives the election result: