Cigars Too Dear.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 471, 4 June 1932, Page 8

Cigars Too Dear.

To the Editor. Dear Sir,—There is a small news Item in Wednesday’s “ Star ” which touches on a sore point. It is to the effect that British cigars have not yet proved popular, the output having fallen 66 per cent since 1921. What I wish to know is, can anybody wonder that cigars, either British or foreign, are not popular? How can anybody but a wealthy man indulge in a smoke that at its best costs as much as a whole dinner in a moderate priced hotel, and at the worst, as much as will obtain a first-class afternoon tea for a single person. We have been saddled with fantastic prices for cigars ever since they were invented, while the inhabitants of other lands can smoke their heads off at 7s 6d per hundred and even ss. It’s a well known fact that infants in arms in Burma, or at all events children of seven or eight, will often be seen pulling steadily at a thing nobody here can touch under an income of £350 per annum, and then only occasionally. The ordinary price for a decent cigar should be one penny, going up to ninepence for the very best. It could be done if something drastic could be done with the tariff and a reduction on the inland revenue. There should be an opening in Christchurch for a cigar factory on a big scale in view of the great predominance of women and girls in our city.—l am, etc., A.M.