A SMOKING COMPETITION

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2379, 21 December 1908, Page 2

A SMOKING COMPETITION

PIPEFUL LASTS TWO HOURS

On a recent Saturday night,- in Sydney, five hundred and eighty-four men sat in the Town Hall,and smoked as if all things depended on smoking. Thev were competitors in a smoking competition to bo decided in favor ot him who could keep one pipe of tobacco alight for the longest tune. 1 here was to be no relighting .after the word “Go.” The tobacco used to be Wills Vice-regal mixture, and the competition was promoted by IV. D. and 11. O. Wills (Australia) Limited. The .judge was Sir Henry Wcedon. M.L.A. A competitor was allowed to use any pine that he wished, but prior to its being filled with the prescribed tobacco the pipe was to be absolutedy emptv. One-eighth of an ounce oi Vice-Regal mixture was to be handed to each competitor, and all surplus beyond what was necessary to fill the pipe had to be returned to the stewards, one of whom was in charge ot each table. The conditions were mane known by the judge before anyone lit up. There was a notice in the hall, . No smokino- except bv the competitors. This was very hard upon the hundreds of people who disposed themselves about the balcony. But the rule was faithfully observed. The smoker’s attitude towards life is of the abstracted contemplative order, and the whole of the five hundred and eighty-four men sot themselves resolutely to present that appearance to the spectators. There were old men and young mem but all were devotees. The crossed legs, the tilted chin, the occasional raising of the eyes to the ceiling, the thin issue of smoke—at its densest the color of skim-milk, at its rarest life the “smoky shadows” that “on the silent sunlight swim” —all brought back to- mind those portraits of the thoughtful, inwardly satisfied Walter Raleigh, taken after he brought back the tobacco from Virginia. But even the smoker cannot- live by smoke alone. The promoters knew that', and they provided a musical programme. Back went the heads and up went the eyes as “The Harmonists” brought the audience for some moments dalliance in “Celia’s bower.” A few moments more the impressionable caught the spirit of Mr. Edward Grainger’s rendering of “The Bandolero.” One competitor drew in such a volume of smoke with one inspiration that he must have exhausted at least a quarter of an hour’s smoko. It was at the next number, however, that the falls occurred. Mr. Will Sando gave a humorous song, “vSo did Father.” It was about one of those gay dogs of fathers that are often found on the platform on a smoke night, and' the audience joined in heartily with the refrain, and “So did Father.” One young chap, like Sir Thomas Bent, put m a bit of his own. “So did Father—dash it, my pipe is out.” He was followed by others, while Mr. Horace Cleeson

played the piano and Mr. J. R. Riddell and Mr. S. R. Kimber sang. That was half an hour after the -start. As the combatants fell by the way they went to the rear of the hall, and the remaining competitors worked gradually up to the front. The first'to drop out was greeted with tremultuous applause. One young man said on the previous evening in a trial over the tracks he had' kept his pipe_going for two hours and ten minutes. On Saturday night his .light was extinguished in 35 minutes. As the retirements became more f requent they did not attract so much attention, and at a quarter to ten only thirty competitors remained. At the rate of more than two a minute this number began to diminish until only ' foui' were left. They had become the centro of a hollow square, of which the platform made up one side and the solid bodies of peojile three sides. With the greatest gravity and with apparent unconsciousness of their surroundings the four smoked on. Three oi them Avent out in almost- as many minutes. They all did it in the saine Avay. The smokers’ line on the cheek perceptibly hardened, a shad'OAV of disappointment paslsed over his face, rapidly succeeded by a smile as ho knocked the ashes out of his pipe. The Avinner Avas acclaimed one hour fifty-four minutes after the commencement of the contest. He mounted the platform amidst great cheering, smoking his pipe. It Avas-then announced that if the Avinner could kwer the Sydney record of tAA'o hours eighteen minutes he Avould receive an extra prize of £2. But it Avas not to be. In three minutes more his pipe Avent out. Sir Henry Weedon then announced the prize-winners as folloAvs: — First prize £lO, H. J. Thomas 1 hour 57min.; second prize £o, O. BroAvn, 1 hour 54min. ; third prize £2, G. Hobson, 1 hour 52nnn; fourth prize £l, John E. Gibbs, 1 hour olmin. , , . There were- also thirty other prizes of £1 each, and these Avill be distilbuted to the successful competitors.