The Californian club to which Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan delivered a key speech earlier this week (see page 4), is an exclusive all-male organisation that has attracted some of the world's top leaders as members.

But only the male leaders.

And its alleged discrimination against women this week led to the US Supreme Court which rejected arguments by the club that it had the right to hire men only.

Most of the club's 90 full-time employees in San Francisco are men. Women are employed in jobs that do not require their presence at club functions.

All of the 10 full-time club employees at the Grove are men, as are the some 250 temporary employees hired for the club's annual retreats there.

According to its lawyers, the club's purposes "are and always have been male fellowship and participation in the arts in a men-only environment''.

The club argued that state and federal anti-bias laws exempted private clubs.

And it argued California's laws violated club members' constitutionally protected freedom of association and privacy rights.

Club members have testified that the presence of women employees would "destroy the Bohemian feeling''.

Its members include authors Mr. Herman Wouk and Mr. William F. Buckley Jr. and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown.

Mr. Buckley testified that the presence of women employees at the Grove "would make so critical a difference ... that I would certainly forfeit my sense of allegiance to it.'' The Bermuda Premier is one of the 2,000 members of the club, which owns a facility in San Francisco and a 2,500-acre camping area near Monte Rio, California, called The Bohemian Grove.

It was at this rustic retreat that the club held its annual "think tank'' this week and Sir John delivered his speech, which was billed as a "lakeside talk''.

The club, formed more than 100 years ago, is limited to men who profess an interest in the arts.

Premier, Sir John Swan.