The Effects on the Tobacco Market.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 2, 13 May 1898, Page 13

The Effects on the Tobacco Market.

The tobacco market, already affected by the insurrections which have disturbed Cuba and the Philippines for some time past, is certain to suffer materially from the hostilities which are now taking place between Spain and the United States. Latest advices from one of the largest cigar manufactories in Manila to its New Zealand representative, resident in Wellington, state that this season's tobacco crop is very small, as the only labour available in the island for some time has been that of women, children, and old men, owing to the able-bodied members of the community being occupied in fighting

for fr^dom from the Spanish yoke. The cigar factories have been run for some considerable time with only women and children, and they are only working two or threedaysaweek, earning a few dollars, out of which they buy just sufficient food to keep body and soul together, sending whatever can be spared to their husbands, brothers, and sweethearts to continue the fight for the common cause against the Spaniards. The rupture between Spain and the United States must further curtail the output. Already Manila cigar and tobacco factories have notified their inability to supply orders, the effect of which must be to advance the prices of these goods in the market.