THE QUEEN'S TOBACCO PIPE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 226, 19 October 1876, Page 4

THE QUEEN'S TOBACCO PIPE.

| (Good Words.) | When we are told that the unbumert ! ends of cigars are picked up and sold for the purpose of making cigarettes, we are mightily struck with the deliberate destruction, not to say waste, that goes on day and night in tbe London Docks, in the very centre of which, we are informed, is ao enormous kilo, which has a long chimney, popularly known as the Queen's tobacco pipe, for the reason tbat all forfeited tobacco and cigars, and other articles said to be too bad for sale, are consigned (o it. We are told that cart-loada oi the odoriferous weed are carried to tbe kiln every day to be consumed. While we conserve cigar ends this teems like straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, It is impossible to believe that j all this tobacco oan be worthless. Even ii it were sold for manure it would be better than turning it into ashes. The maw of this furnace is omnivorous. Tobacco is, indeed, its chief meal, but every perishable article upon which duty has not been paid is consumed. This certainly is nothing less than disgraceful — that good food should ao j be destroyed, while the poor people in tha neighborhood are starving ; i but this, of course, we must expect j from the cruel mercies oi a Government department, which was never known to have bowels of compassion for any one. "On one occasion," cays Mr Simmonds," 900 Australian hams were cuff.red to remain anticipating | the removal of the duty; when it did i come off tha Customs did not allow them to be removed, aud they were allowed to remain until they were so damaged as to be unsaleable." NeverI tbele.s the attendants upon the ovep j made merry upon the hams which were j cooked ready for their breakfast. Tea, we are told, is not now burned, because I on one occasion a load set the cbimney- ! stack on lire. One would have thought ; that a chimney-sweeper would have removed this difficulty; but the ways of officials are inscrutable. But what shall we say to the fact that on one occasion the Queen's pipe smoked j 13,000 pairs of damaged French gloves. Ou another occasion a large number ot foreign watches said to be of gold were condemneJ as spuriouß, broken up and burned. Surely, ior the purpoee of keeping time, a watch in a sham gold case would be useful, and might have been sold for the benefit of the public revenue. But this was not permitted, and what little gold there was on them was sold with the ashes, which ware disposed of for manure. In France the tobacco reiuse is used for manure and making sbeepwaah, and in other docks in London condemned goods are buried until they are partially rotteo, when they are dug up and Bold as manure. Possibly some one will find out for the Custom-house authorities some more moderate use than the fields for the wondeiful assortment that Her Majesty consumes in her pipe.