I am a long time, long distance walking hitchhiker. Just lately ecoconscious, I must report a salient observation from a summer's walking, mainly on roads all over the North Island, country and city.

Empty cigarette packets account for a substantial proportion of litter beside roads. I took a rough count of the brands of cigarette packets so slowly decaying. I find the results quite amazing. Rothmans packets accounted for about 80% of the ones I saw. Pall Mall, usually the red packet, accounted for 17-19%. I only saw 2 or 3 packets each of B.&.H., Belmont, and Peter Styvesant.

Now I realise that Rothmans probably do have a large share of the market. But surely not that large.

I wonder - are the sort of pricks who smoke South African owned cigarettes the same pricks who litter our countryside?