THE NEW POSTAGE STAMP.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17938, 5 December 1923, Page 9

THE NEW POSTAGE STAMP.

TO THE KPITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir, —May I be permitted to congratulate Mr Jones on his dignified protest against the false impression created abroad, as to the size and importanoe of our little island, by the apparent minuteness of New Zealand as revealed by our new postage stamp? Of course everyone in New Zealand knows of tho dignity, magnitude and importance of the "Britain beyond the Seas," and is deeply grieved when some American calmly informs the world that he thought it was a town in Queensland. Do we not all read with conscious pride the doings of our Premier guiding the imperial Conference through troubled waters, and even daring to raise his voice on the conduct ol the British electionf To correct this erroneous impression which is abroad, gerhaps tho following suggestions woulu be helpful. In the first place, the stamp could be> enlarged, so that the principal cities might be shown, a scale being placed underneath, or possibly better still, America on the same scale (or smaller if desired), being inset in one corner by way of comparison, and our outlying possessions in the other ones. This I feel sure would at onco correct any ignorance as to the size of the country. It would not, however, emphasise its importance; so therefore I venture to suggest this alternative. We might, instead of a map of tho country, give a few of the chief facts—the fcize of the country (it will look bigger in acres), the population, the number of strikes per year—this should impress the world if nothing else does —an engraving of Mr Massey, and possi'oly also tho distance from our most northern to our most southern possession. We might even add the time it takes to get from North Cape to the Bluff. This might require a slightly larger stamp than that at present in use. But it would at once remove the imCContißHfld at foot of next colonmj

prcssion that New Zealand is not on« of the most important and most extensive colonies of the British Empire. I trust that the importance of this subject will be counted a justification' for the claim that I have made oh your ,paM.-Y<mr., KoiiAJ) _ ,