Polo.

Manawatu Herald, 11 October 1900, Page 2

Polo.

I From an article in the last Windsor I Magazine we learn that the antiquity I of the game is so great that no one has I yet-been able to discover by whom the , game was invented, though many have 1 attempted to do so. Certain it is, : however, that the pastime had its origiu either among the people of* Persia, or among the inhabitants of

v^mnese Tartary, so long as the fifth century B.C. The game was introduced into India early in the tenth century, but the first polo match played in England took place less than thirty years ago. The writer goes on to say that unfortunately the popularity of polo has caused the prices of well-bred, fast, and thoroughly broken or trained polo ponies to increase enormously, so that first-class polo seems likely soon to become a game in which only millionaires will be able to indulge. Who, ten years ago, would have thought of paying £500 or £600 for a single pony ? Yet now we frequently hear of polo ponies being sold for 500 guineas, 600 guineas, and 700 guineas apiece, and only recently two polo ponies fetched respectively 850 guineas and 900 guineas. Again— lt is a fact that women have taken to polo ; they have taken to it more than once, but unfortunately, polo has not taken to them. So long ago as the eleventh century, according to an ancient manuscript to be seen in the British Museum " ladies of high birth and distinction played polo," and in the year 1887 some sporting girls in Ireland attempted to revive the custom, but failed miserably.