THE "INSIDIOUS CIGARETTE.”

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2156, 12 August 1907, Page 1

THE "INSIDIOUS CIGARETTE.”

INCREASING POPULARITY. THEORIES, FACTS, j AND FIGURES. Theorists liavo said that tlio dcI mand for at least one brand of cigarI otte in New Zealand was partly due to the inclusion of a little opium in I tlio tobacco, says the Evening-: Post, Wellington, and ,tlie , allegation was I tjjravo enough (to* induce the Health Department to got a mimber of samples, of various makes) analysed by Dr. Macla'uriti". No opium was found, said Dr. Afason to a Post reporter tihe other day, but incidentally it was pointed out to Parliament that the'amount' of tobacco in a sixpenny packet'of cigarettes' was so'small that there was no excuse for mianufactuters to wrap up inferior material. It was shown that twenty-six or thirty cigarettes , went to the ounce—about two pennyworth of tobacco to the packet,.at;current rates. It is thus pbyjous that.fho-cigarette is a costly luxury, when a -man gets only teii of

the,trifles foyisixpgnce, but frequently

die-receives, only-two for liis own use. It is: etiquette for a man who opens a packet to invito companions to help themselves, and they usually are not backward. Alen who have a more or less rooted prejudice against the cigarette will take one* when it is offered in this way. Similarly the

man who buys tramway ' coupons is a groat convenience to liis friends. When one member of a car party produces -coupons, others, :whose fingers were feeling for coins, cheerfully let them rest in their pockets. HUGE QUANTITIES.

Undoubtedly the cigarette business

has bounded ahead during recent years. : Tile manager of a large local firm says that the forward movement set in strongly about ten years : agp, and lie thought that it had now abbot: reached the highest level of popular- 1

I it Jr. . Allowing for the increase in the I population, the demand had'not varied la great deal during the past two or three years. - ’ The advance pri'the conI sumption is strikingly revealed by the (Customs'” returns', in j 1896 1 the [ importations of, cigarettes are listed •as - about -1-10,0001 b, - of-.- -which about 77,00011) came, from tlie United States of America, and 31,0Q01bj -1 rorii-- the IJnited Kiiigdoni. The duty; ' af-' Jl7s--6d per 1000 eigarefctes, amoiintedj'to £34,839 0s 2d (charged upon about 40,000,000 cigarettes). Last year the sum of £114,201 Is 2d was 1 contributed to the revenue by 130,616,638 cigarettes (353,5761 b), including 193,245 lb from America, and 158,0521 b from tlie United Kinglom. AVitli these figures, including cigarettes rolled up by persons who prefer to. make their own, the ration last year (was about. 150 for every man, woman; and child in the community, FADS AND FANCIES.

There is occasionally a run on a new brand of cigarettes, but the favorites are old friends that bave long been on the market. They remain fixed in ;the public heart while many others, with all sorts of names, come and : go after a brief patronage. At olio time, a dealer said little hand machines for rolling cigarettes were a craze, but it soon died down,, and has never been revived. The demand is chiefly, now for the ready-made article. While the slim, perky-little cig arette has been capturing territory,, the staid old pipe has not lost ground; it has steadily kept up..its. malty-shaped end, and tlie cigar—which no one except the smoker will ever take seriously—remains much the same old cigar. New Zealanders are not a very cigariferous race. Women have inevitably joined the ranks of smokers. European ladies

have not yet subscribed to the briar and cherrywood which perch on the lips of their Maori sisters,, but some of them will go as far as a cigarette, especially when the eye of man is not about.' The feminine demand is' now so well recognised in a special, dainty gold-tipped cigarette is fashioned for clients.

INJURIOUS TO HEALTH. “There is no doubt that cigarette smoking is the form in which most harm is done,” states Dr. Mason, in agreement with many other authorities,. “but whether the ill t efFects are due to the tobacco itself or to the acrid properties of the paper (an American theory) it is difficult to say.” The chronic cigarptteist delights to inhale the smoke. He draws it into the interior of his body, and allows it to escape ait its leisure. He is only concerned with sending the volume down; once it is in the depths it must shift for itself. Bret Harte told some very droll stories; about one Heuriquez, who could make inhaled cigarette'smoko" find an egress through nose, ears,' and even his hat, and the juggler with smoke has many

emulators of his feats. The body has a habit of painfully marking its disapproval of this nrisuse of the lungs and nose, and very often the harm is irreparable before tlie abuser gets a suspicion of the extent of the damage.

THE SMALL BOV. Almost before he is into knickers the small boy, aping bis elders, converts all manner or material into moke. He will blow blue clouds from a stub of cane, lie purloins mother’s tea, wraps it in a piece of newspaper and draws it more than ‘the most boiling water could ever dp; lie roams among the fields in search of dry dock leaves and other herbs, and secretes himself behind a hedge while he makes volumes of smoke roll from his lips. From this more or less insipid fare lie - graduates into the ranks of the tobacco brigade. He keeps a keen eye open for discarded butts in tlie street, and he may even grow so fond of tlie weed that the penny, given him by mother for being “such a good hoy” (to the outward eye) may he exchanged fat . a eouple of “fags.” He is warned that indulgence in tlie vice will stop his growth and wreak other damage to him, hut he is not thus deterred from a practice which weakens his body and mind. Thoroughly conscious of the fact that if the cigarette can injure an adult is may wreck a boy, Parliament passed in 1903 a Juvenile Smoking Suppression Act, forbidding dealers to, supply tobacco to youths under tlie age of fifteen. “Every youth,” ran one clause, “who in a. jiublie place smokes a cigarette, cigar or any part thereof (a, long phrase for the .plain word butt) or tobacco in any form,

shall bo deemed to bo guilty of an offenco against this Act.” The Legislature assumed that boys of tender years would not be likely to take to chewing, and therefore no reference is made to the mastication of tobacco. Also the way was cleared for the smallest of small boys to parade Laimhton Quay with a well-colored clay, provided he can flash tlio “certificate of a legally qualified medical practitioner to the effect that the using or -smoking of tobacco, cigars, or cigarettes is beneficial to the health I of 'such youth.” A CAMPAIGN COMING.

Since tlio Act calme into force on Ist January, 1904, there . have not been many hoys before a'- magistrate for an..infringement of its provisions. In Christchurch and other places several have been arraigned,: but in

AVellington the juvenile, though lie is quite as much addicted (to tobacco as his contemporaries abroad, is more cunning in his way 6, and manages to keep his buibt beyond the range of the policeman’s eye. However, SubInspector Donovan is of opinion that the mere existence of the Act has scared the small boy to aj large extent. To further damp the ardour of tlio young smoker, constables have been specially instructed to watch out for delinquents.