SMOKERS IN DIFFICULTIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4711, 8 November 1917, Page 7

SMOKERS IN DIFFICULTIES.

SHORTAGE OF MATCHES

CONDITIONS IN THE HOMELAND

LONDON October 17. The smokers, though not politically united, proved themselves powerful enough to compel the 'Chancellor of the .Exchequer to revise his latest additions to the tobacco duties. In combination with the housewives, they have now. to deal with the .difficulties created by. a shortage of matchesSome English towns have been without matches for over a fortnight. A resident of Kjngston-on-Thames deejares in the Evening News that in his town the residents have to keep fires or gas jets burning night and day because they cannot .get supplies. The slot machines at the railway stations which used to stock matches have gone out of the business and are turning their attention to peanuts. In the smoking carriages on the London suburban trains a passenger who intends to strike a match light his pipe or cigarette announces the fact to"; the rest of the occupants of the carriage, so that all may share, in the light. The shortage has been brought about by the official prohibition of the importation of matches owing to the insufficiency of cargo space, and by the fact that the supply of wood suitable for matches is temporarily exhausted. Me'ssrs. Bryant and May, the largest firm of match manufacturers, declare that there is no shortage of matches in Great Britain, but that the distribution of the wholesale houses is at fault. But it is difficult to convince the residents of those towns which have no matches that there is no shortage because other towns have more than they need. One might as well attempt to convince the poor that there is no such thing as poverty because some people have much more money than they need.