Just a few buildings down, on that same Government Street stands the E.A. Morris Building. Mr Morris came to Canada in 1877 and after working for some years in gold mines and explosives factories he bought the at that time ten year old building on Government St. He did very well importing the best of cigars and tobacco and in 1909 he hired the fore mentioned Mr Hooper to design and complete a total renovation of the building. From that day until the anti smoke campaign reached some kind of momentum, not that many years ago, the store was the same, always oozing an air of luxury thanks to Mexican onyx installed around the entrance and inside as baseboard and the use of mirrors, mahogany paneling and mosaic floor as well as many other beautiful furnishings. During the early `defilement of smokers` and the `devil in tobacco` campaign, late past century and the present century  this store nearly bit the dust due to local bylaws against showing tobacco and smoke related paraphernalia. In my earlier days when in Victoria, that is where I’d buy my cigarettes and enjoy lighting up using the store’s beautiful lighter on its Mexican onyx stand with its forever burning gas flame. That lighter is no longer going, but the store’s furnishings still are very much the same as they always were. I wonder whether Old Morris Tobacconist as a business can survive these days.