UNKNOWN

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 17, Issue 60, 31 July 1906, Page 6

UNKNOWN

The Quetv is undoubtedly th< biggest pi)?* iv itie kingdom ; in fact, she nas several - one wherever there is a bonded warehouse for the storage of tobacco —and the smallest of these is as big as a tobacconist’s shop. The Queen’s Pipes are distinguished net only for their magnitude, but also for the enormous quantity of tobacco they The biggest one, far instance, which is at Victoria Dock, London, and which is the one usually meant by the Queen’s Pipe, consumes about 1,000 cwt, of tobacco in a year. The man who smokes an ounce of tobacco a day is considered a pretty heavy smoker —this is less than twenty-four pounds a year. Tims, then, the Queen’s Pipe consumes about as much as five thousand heavy smokersThis seems to be an enormous waste, representing in money, if we take the tobacco at fourpence an ounce, more than £30,000.

Not long ago the writer went down to the Custom House at Viaor.a Dock to see this extiaordinary piper- He was first of all shown round the extensive warehouses in which the tobacco is stored on being unloaded from the ship and previous its being removed by the manufacturer on payment of the duty The tobacco is packed in ba'es and in big barrels or hogsheads. . /jacto leaves, which are big enough, il they wcM only strong enough, to make a moderately sized fan, /are all tightly compressed together in these bales or hogsheads, and a:e ; oi course, carefully examined by the manufacturer before he pays the duty—as much as 3s. 2d. per lb., or more than three times the price. The Customs officials also carefully examine the tobacco. Now the result of all this examining is that considerable quantities of tobacco fall on the floor in little bits that cannot be picked up except with shovel and broom. Some of the tobacco leaves arc so dry that they almost fall to pieces on being merely picked up. Again, the manuk'turcr often finds a quantity of louacco damaged ; perhaps the vessel it was brought over in has been in collision, and water has got amongst the cargo. In such cases he .laturally considers whether it is worth nis while to take the tobacco out of bond and pay tiie heavy duty on it. If he thinks it will not pay him to take it, he abandons it. Sometimes bales are only partially damaged, and in such ;ases the tobacco is ''garbled'—that is, ■t is picked over leaf by leaf, the riood being put on one side and the baa on another. It is this damaged tobacco and the sweepings of the warehouses, that go mainly to (ill the Queen's Pipe. We then proceeded to view this terrible inoncicr of destruction itself. At the entrance was a Customs officer to check everything that went in and to see that nothing went out. Further on was a shed full of rubbish. The rubbish comprised dust swept from the floors ol the warehouses, bits of broken barrels, and tobacco leaves so bad that nobody would have them. At the end of the shed was a big furnace—the Pipe itself —which has never been out for seven years, and then only becauss ii sseded repairing.

As to the tobacco that is h&a destroyed, it is good for very little else; at any rate it is not good enough to enable the importer to sell it at a profit after paying the duly on it; if it were, depend upon it he would not abandon it.

It seems to be a common notion that the tobacco consumed by the Queen's Tipc is what is captured from smugglers; and recently a member of Parliament asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if nothing could be done to stop this sinful destruction. That member liar 1 evidently never seen the Queen's Pipe nor the stuff that it destroys, and from his reply, we should imagine that neither bad the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The reply was that it had to be so destroyed to protect honest traders, evidently implying that this tobacco was brought into the country by dishonest traders or othcis seeking to evade payment of the duty. First of all, the to bacco that is destroyed by the Pipe ir. not manufactured, and would not be smoked by any smoker if he had it for nothing. Then, if it were manufactured, no smoker would buy it. Again, however, smuggled tobacco, which is good, is not destroyed, but is sentfor consumption to Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum and other public institutions. IJcsidcs tobacco, cigars and cigarettes that have been abandoned are consumed in the Pipe. These, however, amount to very little, as being more valuable they are more carefully packed, and consequently the quantity damaged is comparitively insignificant. Coffee and other dutiable goods that; are abandoned are dwtroyed in the same way. Damaged tea used to be destroyed also ;n this way but ft is now exported to Germany, where 8n important dye is made f-rm it. Snuff is thrown into the Thames at the Nore. It is taken thither in a boat under the charge of a Customs officer. In the way that such things are usually stated, without explanation, we are generally shocked at the seeming extravagance. It would, however, be a more evtravagant course to keep these damaged articles—at least until they could be applied to uses that have not yet been discovered for them. At present the cost of storing them would far exceed (heir intrinsic value.