The Decadence of Snuff.

Waipawa Mail, Volume VII, Issue 713, 5 December 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Decadence of Snuff.

The taste for snuff appears to be declining in England with much rapidity, if we may judge by the official returns just published as to its importation is recent years. Ac cording to the figures thus given, the country received last year in its ports for home consumption only the paltry total of 54lbs. It true that there was also imported 4,3431b5. of this commodity designed to be exported again ; but this only proves more conclusively how little the Britisher is nowable to appreciate the once favourite drug when he hasti in his power to do so. Fiftyfour pounds seems a truly absurd quantity to suffice for domestic use when it is understood that in Scotland alone there are elderly men still who arc accustomed to spoon uj) the fragrant dust into their nostrils with a sort of wooden shovel, instead of being content to convey it thither in the orthodox fashion, grasped between their thumb and forefinger. What can have be-

come of all those snuff-boxes, once regarded as gems of art, which the wits of the Georgian era used to rap with such elegant gestures, and open with such dignified complacency ? _ Why, if even one-half of them were still in existence and performin'.* their ancient duty, 541bs. would not suffice to keep them going for a month. There must be still in England some hundreds of shops, irrespective of taverns, still " licensed,” according to the old formula, " to sell tea, coffee, tobacco, and snuff.” At least, if the inscription over their doors does not say this, it certainly affirms the readiness of the owner or occupier to deal in snuff as well as other luxuries. Where does this snuff come from ? Evidently the o4lbs. received last year from England cannot go far towards stocking these shops and taverns. It is to be feared that the snuff-taker who resorted to such places for the purpose of refilling his box would be in danger of getting a dust which had been subjected to a ripening process less beneficial to it than to port wine. That snuffers, as they are now sometimes irreverently called, do still exist, we all admit.