THE NEW POSTAGE STAMPS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21464, 4 May 1935, Page 21

THE NEW POSTAGE STAMPS

TO TIM EUZTOB Of TBI ?EB!1S. Sir, —It was a shock to-day on buying postage stamps to be handed some of the new halfpenny abominations, the design of which is in very bad taste. The green is certainly a cleaner colour than that used in the old stamps, which is all that can be said in their favour. It was a sad thought that petty nationalism could not be satis- j fled with the King's head as an em- i blem of the loyalty that New Zealanders profess so loudly, but which in a practical matter of everyday life had to give way to that obsession in New Zealand—advertisement. However, it may be claimed for the Ad stamp that the bird—whatever it may be —looks just as well whether aflixcd right side up or upside down. j The penny stamp is of better design, i but the colour is anaemic. But why the kiwi? Is the kiwi so often seen in the by-ways and hedges that it is honoured as a characteristic bird of Dominion-wide habitat that is universally known and is closely identified with the countryside It seems to be the sort of thing that, like the Maori cult, gives a wrong impression of New Zealand. Dull-witted New Zealanders who travel in England are often taken in by flippant knaves, who pretend to think that New Zealand is in Australia, but ordinary educated Englishmen may be excused for thinking that Maoris form a considerable proportion of the population here. Anyway, philatelic artistry must be at a very low ebb in New Zealand if nothing better than the new stamps could be produced. As for national assertiveness, it would be more seemly if New Zealand could even defend itself. —Yours, etc., ENGLISHMAN. May 3. 1935.