WOMEN & BRIDGE

Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1933, Page 2

WOMEN & BRIDGE

PLAYERS IN AUSTRALIA. . . MELBOURNE, ‘December IG. , In a /discussion of the. popularity of cards it was stated recently by the Sydney correspondent of the Melbourne Argus,- that IO.uGO dr more women bridge pMyers’ mot every, day in Sidney and suburbs. An expert in Melbourne said there werY undoubtedly more bridge-players in Melbourne than in Sydney. He thought that this was probably due to the additional attractions of outdoor life in Sydney.

' Mr S. N. Lythgo, the authority, quoted expaint\d that atliough there were no statistics, it was an admitted fact that players from Melbourne visiting Sydney, found difficulty in getting all the contract bridge they wanted.

The standard of play in Sydney, he added, was not nearly as high as in Melbourne. There was no argument against bridge as a recreation for women. People who played the game, he considered, could not be gamblers. It required so much concentration and skill that one with an inclination to gamble would soon put it aside for such card games as poker. Women played for Id, 2d, and 3d a hundred. point, and the modest loser of to-day was the modest winner of to-morrow. The only exception was when women played out of their grade. Their vaulting ambition paid the usual penalty,. In such instance the winner was as displeased as was the l-oser, for the bridge-player was more concerned with having, ft good game than with increasing her pin-money. “Undoubtedly,” said Mr, (Lythgo, “bridge improves a .woman intellectually. It encourages thought and concentration,, anl is a . restful mental

exercise.”