Botswana's Record

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31984, 10 May 1969, Page 17

Botswana's Record

fßf KSrrfitTH ANTHONY) ] For convenience gf every- i & use, the small, convent- i tonal rectangular postage 1 stamp chosen by Sir Rowland i Hill for the Fenny Black in 1 1840 has stood the test of < time. But the increasing in- J genuity shown by stamp de- < signers in recent years has led to a growing tendency to I experiment with unusual 1 shapes and sizes of stamps, i Even a country with such a traditionally-minded stamp i policy as Great Britain came ■ out in 1966 with a stamp 2} ; inches long—to accommodate 1 a scene from the Bayeux i Tapestry, in a set marking < the 900th anniversary of the ’ Battle of Hastings. ’ New Botswana, a newly in- i dependent country of south- i ern Africa formerly known as i Bechuanaland, has gone one better, with a stamp that |

breaks all records for length in relation to height Measuring three full inches across, from perforation to perforation, it is one of a'set of | four values issued for the opening of the National 1 Museum and Art Gallery at < Gaberones. The extreme length of the 1 stamp certainly serves to em- i phasise the line of the building. Until 1965, Botswana had i no recognised national capital , —the territory having been administered as a British pro- ; tectorate from Mafeking, just across the border in South Africa. So Gaberones—previously no more than a : village—is being developed : as a new capital city, accord- ■ ing to the latest principles 1 of town planning. The government offices and parliament buildings are at \

one end of the town. At the other end—in company with two churches, the national library, and the town hallstands the museum. Botswana’s leaders believed that a museum should be established at an early stage of national development, so that a record can be kept for posterity of events as they happen. It is a telling indication of the growing influence and importance of stamps, that a philatelic section will be a feature of the museum from the beginning, pride of 'place being given to the special stamps issued to celebrate the opening. '