Postage Stamps

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26362, 5 March 1951, Page 6

Postage Stamps

Mr W. A. Sutton has done h useful service in obtaining the opinions of overseas authorities on the set of postage stamps issued tc commemorate the centenary of Canterbury. Over many years almost every new issue of postage stamps in this country has provoked controversy about the merits of the stamps themselves and about the method of commissioning the designs. On the whole, New Zealand philatelists seem to have been more easily satisfied than New-Zealand artists; for most of the objections to our stamps have come from the latter. The most frequent complaint has been that the designs themselves are too detailed and intricate for their purpose, so that the beauty of material and composition that they may contain cannot be appreciated without close examination. This may point to the need for the printers to have a Stronger voice in the selection. Designs, of course, are drawn on a very much larger scale than the finished stamps; and a design that seems effective on a large scale may prove unsuitable when reduced in size. N.Mr Sutton’s comments, and the opinions of overseas authorities which support his own, raise a much more important question. Is New Zealand well served by inviting all and sundry to submit designs, from which an advisory committee chooses .he best apd makes recommendations to the PostmasterGeneral? Mr- Sutton argues that few competent designers will enter these ” competitions ” and that better results would be obtained by commissioning professional designers to do the work. The argument is worth serious consideration by the Post Office. For postage stamps do reflect, in some measure, a country’s taste and level of culture; and to many citizens of foreign lands that country is known only by its postage stamps. These are sound enough reasons for seeking a high standard of design and craftsmanship; and they are reasons why New Zealanders should be concerned on finding British, design experts so unfavourably impressed by our latest set of stamps. As one; of the authorities consulted by Mr! Sutton has said, it is obviously very;

difficult to design a stamp, “as the “general low standard of stamp “designing shows” New Zealand stamps are probably no worse than those of other countries, and they may be better than most. But no effort should be spared to ensure [that they are among the very best.