THE SINS OF WAR.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14292, 22 December 1916, Page 2

THE SINS OF WAR.

GA.MBLLNG FEVER ■ SEIZES H)LE

WOMAN.

A striking denunciation of presentday morals wa s :madeby Canon jSTew r bolt in his sermon at Sfci Paul's on a recent Sunday:— ' '.'Those of us behind the scenes in the moral life of the nation," he said, "know that in many ways things are^ig bad as ever they can be, and there are some things so bad that they cannot be alluded to with propriety from this pulpit." Inquiries made subsequently went to support Canon Newbolt's denunciation. Among tho evils is an increase in gambling. A famous ex-polieo detective, now engaged on private work safd:—"There is. a great deal of gambling going on among a certain clas s '' of woman whose husband is at .the' [front. ■ New eltfbs spring, up' mushroomlike, flourish' for a .few days,- andrthen 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 outside. One week you will hear of certain men being in London, the next in Brighton, raid ten days later they will be in Folkestone. They carry their clientele -with them to-a largn extent.

and the majority of them are women,) with a sprinkling of elderly men. A | few months ago" a number of young officers -were- badly fleeced by a eertairJ group of two men and a woman; but the military very properly. are taking' greater precautions to protect officers, and especially, those from oversea. "Women are the chief offenders. I have vecoiVed instructions from several officers at the front to \\&teh their wives in oixier to put a stop to this excessive gambling. In one easo the wife 6f a "major, who was married only last year, lost £800 in a week recently. Her friends, I am glad to say, have 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, rip war work, are left at homfe with plenty of money and no companionship. They take up cards purely to pass tho time, and it becomes an obsession. Many women now play bridge for high stakes from morning till night, stopping for i lev.--minutes to snatch a' meal, and thon continuing their gamo. Jt ia nothing for £100 to be won and ]or,t in a day. The whole thins is very difficult to stop." • /

From tho official point of view., as tho "Daily Graphic" learnt at Scotland Yard, there is- less Crime, and every endeavour *is being made to stop gambling. Isut. a?; ,an said, where people play in their own homes and flats it is impossible to stop tbem.