t4d ST NICOTINE 



portation does not come under the monopoly the producer 

 can send his unmanufactured leaf out of the country, have 

 it prepared for use and brought in again ready for the retail 

 dealer, and still compete successfully with the Government. 

 Sir Ernest adds that, ' Were the simple system adopted, in 

 operation in England, of warehousing, it is estimated that 

 with the same tax a revenue of at least ;j^ 1,000,000 could 

 be obtained.' The monopoly scheme was severely criticised 

 in the Senate, and it was thought that it would be amended, 

 but up to the date of Sir Ernest's report nothing had been 

 done in this direction. 



The marvellous transformation which has taken place 

 in Japan within the last thirty-five years has hardly left a 

 vestige behind of the old order of things which so charmed 

 the eyes of the stranger from the West. Even in the remote 

 villages the peasantry, as if ashamed to be themselves, are 

 entering upon new paths and disguising their primitive habits 

 of social life under the garb of Western modes and manners. 

 The graceful native costume is supplanted by the distortions 

 of dress which the caprice of art sends forth from Paris as if 

 to render humanity ridiculous. It is not a pleasing sight to 

 look upon Japanese ladies enduring torture in their efforts 

 to accommodate themselves to Western fashion and finery. 

 And the men, skewered up in sombre broad-cloth, lose the 

 ease and dignity which by nature's gift is theirs. Would it 

 not be well, while gathering the fruits of old European cul- 

 ture, for this Eastern people to preserve their native habits, 

 works and ways, all those things which are the natural product 

 of their race and climate ? Of course, in commerce, the ob- 

 servance of the eternal verities, as Carlyle would say, forms 

 the basis of all healthy and lasting good. 



There is, however, one cheerful sign in the present-day 

 habits of this most interesting people : through aJJ the toils 



