AMONG the lesser known details of the life of Capt Cook is that he was possibly the first person to record the phenomenon of ‘stuff’.

Even more possible is that he was the first to deplore the desire to acquire ever more of it.

In a 1770 entry in his journal of his first great Voyage of Discovery, on which he charted the east coast of Australia, he remarked that the indigenous people there were “far happier than we Europeans, being wholly unacquainted not only with the superfluous but with the necessary conveniences so much sought after in Europe.

“They are happy not knowing the use of them. The earth and the sea of their own accord furnish them with all necessary things of life.

“They covet not magnificent houses, household stuff etc… They set no value upon anything we gave them, nor would they ever part with anything of their own.”

This perceptive insight came to mind the other day when I read a report of a study purporting to explain what is now being dubbed – by economists, bless them – “the retirement consumption puzzle”.

It seems retired people spend ever less with advancing age, even though many are often better off than in their younger years.

Carried out by the International Longevity Centre UK (yes, new to me too), the study came to a novel conclusion.

High on the Centre’s list of causes of that age-linked decline in spending is – a lack of seats in shopping centres.

The Longevity experts calculate that this contributes to a loss of £3.8 billion a year that older shoppers would otherwise pump into the high street.

As it happens I support the call for more seats. Very often they could replace ugly clutter like concrete flower boxes, usually filled with litter. Or unloved pieces of ‘public art’. And the Centre is certainly correct in also pinpointing the closure of public toilets as a disincentive to visit town centres, especially by the old.

Be prepared to cross your legs in Northallerton.

Nevertheless, the Centre is surely wide of the mark in identifying only two possible causes of limited spending by the elderly: cost and accessibility – of which it plumps primarily for the latter.

Up here in the North it would be surprising if the cost of a full shopping bag does not, literally, weigh heavier for many than the absence of a seat on which to rest while lugging it around – or even a toilet.

But completely overlooked by the Longevity Centre is a feeling that becomes ever-more compelling with age: a feeling that one already has more than enough “stuff”, and the greater need is to reduce it rather than acquire more.

For years my wife and I have attempted to confine Christmas presents from our three offspring to modest essentials that we need – maybe a new walking map for me, a pinny for my wife (she loves her pinnies, for which she has very exacting requirements). This year we’ve upped the ante and virtually bellowed: We Don’t Want Anything. We are happy that they show care and concern year round, and we don’t want them to have the stress of wondering what to buy, and stretching their resources to provide it. Goodbye Stuff.