THE QUEEN'S TOBACCO PIPE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 150, 13 October 1876, Page 3

THE QUEEN'S TOBACCO PIPE.

When we are totd that- the unburncct ends of cigars are picked up and sold for the purpose of making cigarettes, we are • mighty struck with the deliberate destruction, not to say waste, that goes on day and night in the London Docks, in the very centre of which, we are informed. , is an enormous: kiln, whieh has a long chimney, known popularly as the Queen's tobacco pipe, for the reason that all forfeited tobacco and cigars, and other articles said t>> f>o ;»h> bad for sale, are- consigned to it. W« are told that cart-loads of the odoriferous weed are carried to the kiln every day to hi consumed. While we conserve cigar ends this- seems like straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. It is impossible to believe that alt this tobacc<> can be worthless. Even if it were sold fur manure it Would be belter than ; turning it int.* ashes. The maw of this furnace is otumtvero-"*. Tobacco is, indeed, its chief meat, but every perishable article upon which duty has not been paid is consumed. This certainly is nothing k-93 than disgrace i : ut that good food s'ioutd so b*> decoyed, while, the poor people in t' ; e neighborhood are aiarv.ng; but this, of curse, we may » xp_et from the er.iel m,_~eies of a G»»vennmnt department w, i;h was never known to Lave of fompas.-uou tor any one. '" (_'tf one occasion," says i'dr. iSiutiuonds, ** f:»;j Australian hams were astuered Co remain, anttu'tp.-..tiag the removal of the duty. Wi'iett it did come oif, the Customs word I not allow them to be removed, and they were allowed to remain until they were so damaged as to he unsaleable." Keverthetess, the attendants upon the oven made merry upon the hams, which were cooked ready for their breakfast. Tea, we are told, is not now burned, because on one occasion a load set the chimney-stack on tire. One would have thought that a chimney-sweeper wor.ut have removed this diifrculty; but the ' ways of oUhr.ats are ttnscrutahte. But wh.ot shall we say to the fact that on ony. ticcasiorv the Queen's pipe smoked 13,003 pairs of damaged French gloves. On another occasion a targe number of foreign watches, said to he of. gold, were condemned as spurious, broken up, and bunted. Surely, for the purpose of keeping time, a watch, in a sham gold case, would be useful, and may have been sold for the benefit of the public revenue. But this was not permitted, but what little gold there was ttftoti them was sold with the ashes, which were disposed of for manure. In France the tobacco refuse is used for manure and making sheepwash, and in other docks in London condemned goods are burned until they are partially rotten, when they are dug up and sold as manure. Possibly some one will find out the Custom-house authorities some more moderate use than the fields for the wonderful assortment that Her Majesty consumes in her pipe.— Goo*t ff'wrh