WOMEN GAMBLERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16366, 21 October 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

WOMEN GAMBLERS.

PASTIME OF SOLDIERS' WIVES. Commenting on an assertion from St. Paul's pulpit by Canon Newbolt, that " those behind the scenes in the moral life of the nation know that in many ways things arc as bad as they can bo," the Daily Graphic says:— " Among the evils is an increase of gambling. A famous ex-police detective, now engaged on private work, said: There is a great deal of gambling going on among a certain class of woman whose husband is at the front. Now clubs soring up mushroom-like, flourish for a few days, and then as suddenly disappear. The promoters are very chary of getting into the hands of the police these days, and they rarely remain in the same flat or house for more than a fortnight at the oitside. One week you will hear of certain men being in London, the next in Brighton, and ten days later thev will be in Folkestone. They carry their clientele with them to a largo extent, and the majority of them are women, with a sprinkling of elderly men. Officer* Badly Fleeced. A few months ago a number of young officers were badly fleeced by a certain group of two men and a woman; but the military very properly are taking greater precautions to protect officers, and especially those from overseas. Women are the chief offender?. I have received instructions from several officers at the front to watch their wives, in order to put a stop to this excessive gambling. In one case the wife of a major who was married only last year, lost £800 in a week recently. Her friends, I am glad to say, have now taken her away, and I think she will be safely looked after until the war is over. This is typical of many cases, where women, unfitted to take up war work, are left at home with plenty of money and no companionship. They take up cards purely to pass the time, and it becomes an obsession. Many women now play bridge for high' stakes from morning to night, stopping for a few moments to snatch a meal, and then continuing their game. It is nothing for £100 to be won and lost in a day.