56 ST NICOTINE 



declared value and the Customs duty, there is to be taken 

 into account the cost of manufacture and all the expenses 

 incidental thereto ; the retail dealer's profits, varying from 

 about 20 per cent, in the poorer districts, to 75 per cent, in 

 the best west-end shops. It may be mentioned also that 

 the Customs duties vary, according to the kind of the 

 tobacco imported, from 35. 6d. to 53. a pound weight, and 

 that the price for which it is sold to the merchant, ranges 

 from is. 6d. per pound. No satisfactory data upon 

 which a fair estimate can be based are to be found here. 

 But, if an average price per ounce be taken, as a starting 

 point, of the charge made by the tobacconist to the 

 consumer of all the various kinds, from the patrician 

 Havana to the plebeian ' rough-cut,' then we may arrive at 

 a fairly reasonable estimate. Sixpence an ounce is rather 

 below than above the average price paid for the weed. At 

 this rate, however, a total annual expenditure is reached of 

 ^31,304,108. Then there is the almost endless variety of 

 nick-nacks which accompany the use of tobacco, from the 

 dhudeen and metal tobacco box of the Irish peasant, to the 

 lordly, gold-mounted meerschaum and amber pipe, with 

 cases, pouches, jars, pipe-racks, and all the paraphernalia 

 the nicotian epicure demands for the use and adornment of 

 his favourite indulgence. And how is the cost of these 

 accessories to be obtained? If, out of the 40,000,000 

 inhabiting these islands there should be 10,000,000 

 smokers, each spending on an average zs. 6d. only a year 

 on these things, then would the annual outlay to the 

 consumer mount up to the grand total of ^32,554,108. 



Again the writer has to acknowledge his indebtedness to 

 the statistical branch of the Customs for the interesting 

 information that the quantity of wheat consumed in this 

 kingdom in 1895 was about 27,500,000 quarters 



