Stamp Story No. 124 Stamps Boost Island's Exports

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30152, 8 June 1963, Page 8

Stamp Story No. 124 Stamps Boost Island's Exports

[Specially written for "The Press'' by Kenneth Anthony}

OOSTAGE stamps ' are a 1 nation’s cheapest and most regular ambassadors, so it is not surprising that many countries have used the opportunity to publicise their industries and their products —especially the things they most want to export The example illustrated, from the West Indian island of Dominica, has a special interest because it is a reflection of economic history

When the ' British. French. Dutch and Spanish struggled for supremacy m the Caribbean in the bed. bold days of buccaneers, sugar was one of the main prizes. Those were days betore sugar was extracted from sugaa beet, and everyone had to look to tropical sugar cane for supplies. Dominica was me of the places were sugar was grown, as it still is today in other parts of the Carib-

bean. Eut even at the time of the French settlement in Dominica coffee had become a leading crop, and today the island produces no sugar at all. The abolition of slaveryin 1833 removed the abundance of cheap labour, and later the competition of sugar from sugar beet made itself felt. So Dominica turned to growing fruit, , especially

limes, and this stamp, firs issued m 1938. shows limes being picked A lime plantation is featured on a latei stamp, a 3c value which appeared in 1951. and the design has been retained for the corresponding stamp of the current Elizabethan series

The lime business, too. had its up and downs and now vanilla, oranges and bananas are also grown in Dominica All these have also found free advertisement on the island’s stamps Dominica—not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. which occupies the greater part of the island of Hispaniola—was discovered by Columbus one Sunday in 1493. and from this fact it takes its name (Spanish Domingq. Sunday). In Dominica the resistance of the native Caribs to European settlement was particularly fierce, and even today it is one of the few West Indian islands to have a Car:b se-'lement. Although their* numbers have greatly declined, the Caribs maintain their traditional craft of basket-making, and this “home industry” was shown oc a 2c stamp issued in 1951 —(Central Press Feature*. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.)