WHY BRIDGE IS DYING OUT.

Evening Star, Issue 14631, 29 July 1911, Page 12

WHY BRIDGE IS DYING OUT.

Last month an inquest was held on a Streatharr’ lady who committed suicide after losing-some rubbers at bridge. It was stated that she was, as a rule, a first rate player, but, that on the evening of her death she played vety badly, and lost games that she should hare won easily. Tliis tragedy (says ‘M.A.P.’I is another example of the unsuitability of card games to the feminine temperament. Many women are admirable bridge players, as far us mere skill and knowledge are concerned, but they are nearly all bad losers. Ihey arc too emotional, and too easily upset by the outrageous tricks that Fortune so often plays. This is really the reason why bridge has lost its popularity, and is so japkiiv tolling out ot fashion. V lien the game was at'the height of its vogue its sunoorters wore mainly women. "Mixed” caßi clubs—i.c., dubs where men and women could meet, for bridge—sprang up all over London. But tire ladies could not stand the strain. The game got on their nerves, and the dubs, from being pleasant social gatherings, degenerated into nagging and hysterical institutions. There were no suicides, but there were minor tragedies in abundance. Husbands complained that their wives returned from their bridge clubs in a state of - nqryous tension that made conversation Impossible, The’ nagging that was merely exasperating at the card table became utterly intolerable when transferred to the home. In a number of cases the domestic peace was irretrievably shattered, but the more usual ending ■ vns resignation from the club which caused all the mischief. i ITio last couple of years have seen the closing of half a dozen of the principal mixed card clubs in London, and bridge as a social relaxation is apparently doomed. At a big private dance given in London in June there was a room set specially apart by the hostess for bridge, but it failed to attract a single player._ The reign of bridge, is over.

A house containing an oil engine and a fan at the Brunner mine caught fire yest >r dav. The building was completely destroyed and the machinery damaged. The loss is covered partly by insurance. The Federal Statistician’s efforts to arrive at the cost, of living in Australia have not met with the immediate response that was-expected of them. In May, 1910, about 1.500 books of account, providing for a weekly statement of income and expenditure during the twelve months from June, 1910, to June, 1911, were sent out to persons throughout the Commonwealth. The object of this inquiry was to obtain first-hand information. Although the time when the books should have been complete expired on June 30 last,* only about 200 have been returned to the statistician np to the present time. The value of any deductions which may be drawn from a compilation of these results will depend largely upon the number of examples from which the analysis can be made.