FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 23022, 29 July 1938, Page 3

FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

[By P.mi.ATEUST.] ■ The monthly meeting of the Dunedin Philatelic Club was held on Thursday of last week at the' Y.M.C.A. Rooms, when there was an attendance of 33 members. Two new members were elected. The main business of the evening was a debate, ‘ That Subject Collecting is More Interesting Than General Collecting.’ Those speaking for the affirmative were Mr L. Hill and Mr S. F. Greenslade, and the negative side was taken by Mr P. Pels and Mr P. M‘Kellar. ,Displays for the evening Were furnished by Dr M. N. Watt, Mr P. Pels, and Mr P. M'Kellar. Stamp sales, between .members brought a pleasant evening to a close. ' ‘ Windmills and Stamps ’ is the title t of an article by C. Philip Skilton in the May number of ‘Gibbons’ Stamp Monthly.’ It reads as follows:—There • are over 200 windmills still working in England. All . windmills fall roughly into one of two classes—the post mill and the smock mill—of which the former is the older kind. As the direction of wind varies, the sails have to be made to face the wind. In the post mill type the whole of the mill is turned by .hand, with the aid of a long pole, round a vertical pivot formed by the centre 1 post of the mill. A good example is to .be found at Bourn, near • Cambridge. In the smock mill, however, the top only is automatically turned by means of the little “ fantail.” A particularly fine example of the smock type is at Terling, near Chelmsford. England, peculiarly enough, has more windmills than any other, country in Europe, if derelicts are counted, but Holland probably has more working ones. ... Turning to stamps featuring windmills, though stamp designers d not seem to have supplied us with an , abundance of them, 1 will describe all . that 1 know of. '/ First we * will take Holland, land of windmills. The 2i c. of the* Tourist-Propaganda issue, 1932, depicts three mills arid the dykes at Kinderdijki, From what can be seen the-mills appear to be of the smoqk : type, and the fine lattice sails- admirably show-the fact that, as in most mills of this kind, two of the sails are longer than the others. Now, for what seems to be an example of the post type—Ukraine—the 200 gr. of the 1921 issue. -This old mill stands on a hilltop overlooking the fields. Note the , curiously composed sails. Another post ' mill can be seen'in the background on the 1 gr., August, 1934, Austrian issue. The T 929 issue of Rodi, on the 5 c., provides us with a very queer Mediterranean evample. A round brick tower is surmounted by a wooden top, which bright possibly class it as a smock type, but undoubtedly the most interesting part is the sails, which appear as a large spidery wheel. In Britain, too, though when there are more than four sails these are joined together at the tips to make for additional strength. A very historic windmill is shown on the Denmark stamps of January, 1937. This, is the Dybbel Mill, scene of-the heroic resistance by the Danish troops - against overwhelming Prussian forces in the war of , 1864. This mill is an excellent example of the smock class, and all the details can be clearly seen—the sails, fan-tail, and ! also a little gangway all round. ■ A type unusual in England, though I believe more common in America, is found on, the 11.75 of Tripolitania, 1931. Wind-pumping engines of this class were developed from the mill proper towards the end of the last.cen- - tury. A wheel, consisting of a -large • number of thin blades, takes the place •of the .ordinary vanes. " y ‘ Finally we come to two mills con- - riected with books. These are, of course, Daudet’s mill in France and the Don Quixote one in Spain. The former is provided by the April, 1936, issue of France. Daudet, the “ French Charles Dickens,” purchased this mill at Fontvieille, and immortalised it bv writing therein his ‘ Lettres de moil Moulin.’ The rail) itself is apparently a French version of the smock type, tbe lower portion being composed of brick. The sails have a curious feature, as each is overlaid by a triangular piece of wood. Some other mills of the same type can also be seen on the stamps. Don Quixote charging,the mill is shown on the 10 c. of Spain, 1905. The sails are joined in all sorts of queer places, and the mill itself appears to be of the ■ post type.