The Brotherhood of the Pipe

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 184, 25 December 1886, Page 8

The Brotherhood of the Pipe

Tea, coffee, and cocoa are articles of common consumption, but the use of tobacco ip, with some immaterial exceptions, limited tj one sex. For this reason we find the consumption per head of the population published in the annual reports of her Majesty's Commieeioner of Inland llevenUe interesting enough in relation to fireside beverages, but not quite so valuable when applied as a gauge to the consumption oi the weed— fragrant or otherwise. It is | of liltl© consequence to learn that 23 oz per head represents the consumption of tobacco i in the United Kingdom when we recollect that " the heads" belong to the housewives who drive their spoußes into the back garden to smoke their post-prandial pipe, and to ciphors of humauity more familiar with the tube of a feeding-bottle than that of a hookah. Yet by means of the figures at our disposal we have ample data enabling us to arrive at a near approximate number of the inhabitants of these islands belonging to the brotherhood of the pipe. The male population of the United Kingdom, exceeding fifteen years of age, was, in round numbers, ten miljiona and a quarter on the date of the latest enumeration. From information received for the purpose of the present article we feel justified in stating that one half the indoor commercial cJasses, clerks, shopmen, &c, may be described as regular stnokere, Among the artisan classos, farm labourers, and all thoee who are at liberty to smoke during working hours, the proportion of smokers must be considerably larg9r, so that it may be assumed that 60 per cent, of the nialepopu lation exceeding fifteen yeara of a»e have acquired the habit. On this basis we find the number of smokers to be about n',1.00,000, and the average capitation consumption of tobacco about S Ib. 3 oz. This ia hardly an extravagant figure, as it is only equivalent to 2K o/ per week per cmoker. lv money value ie represents an individual expondditiure of, say, two guineas per annum, or a gross sum of £12,015,000. Oddly enough, tliia amount ia just one half of that received by the railway companies for the conveyance of all olaape^ of passengers dnring the yoar ISS4. Two other peculiarities may be here mentioned in connection with the consumption of tobacco— namely, that half a gallon of spirits and something more than half a barrel of beer was conaumed for each pound of tobacco cleared by the excise authorities. While the yearly consumption of tobacco hag increased from 23 to 53 millions of pounds since IS4I, the United Kingdom i 9 still a long way behind other countries, except Italy, in tho use of it. In Belgium and Holland the average per head ot the total population is as high a* S4oz ; in Sm itzorland, S2 : Austria, SO ; Germany, 72 ; United States, 50 ; and so on, Huspia approximating moat neatly with 240z., while Italy consumes 22c z We can hardly expect any material abatement in our tobacco duties, but thore is every reason. to > elieve that a large reduction therein would be followed by a very considerable increase m the demaud for tobacco, and a larger field would be opened up for tobacco manufacturers and retail dealers. For the financial year ending 31st March laPt, there wee 561 manufacturers and 290,032 retail dealers who took out licenses from the Excise authorities. Ac a inrgH number oi dealers in tobacco hoH beer and spirit licenses, it is to be presumed that this peculiarity of tho trade explains the discrepancy between the Excise and Census returns In the latter the number of persons woiking and dealing in pipes and tobacco (Fngland and Wales) ia set down at 22,175, including 142 Germans, 7S Poles, 45 Kuesians, and leeser numbers of Danea, JNorwegiana, Swedes, Austrians, Hungarians, and Swiea,