The Hawera Star. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1926. WHY NOT NEW ZEALAND STAMPS?

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 3 February 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1926. WHY NOT NEW ZEALAND STAMPS?

Delivered every evening by 6 o'clock in Havrera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawe, Elthain, Mangatokl, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyvflle, Potea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremere, Fraeer Bead, and Ararats.

Tt may be a case of fools rushing in where philatelists fear to tread, but the bull-dog tenacity with which the authorities cling to the King’s head as a design for New Zealand postage stamps has long filled us with wonder. Now, according to a semi-official announcement, a little variety is to be provided by portraits of his Majesty in Field-Marshal’s uniform and in Admiral’s uniform. The familiar figure of Zealandia with her trident which, off and on, has adorned our penny stamp ever since wo adopted universal penny postage twenty-five years ago, is to yield place to the Sailor King. Possibly we are due for a change, and few tears will be shed at tlio passing of the old design. But why on earth must we have the King in substitution? That inquiry implies uo disrespect for the Sovereign or the Throne, nor is it meant to suggest that the head or figure of King George is in any way unworthy of this loyal Dominion’s stamp issues. The point is just this: That while the Railway Department is producing gaudily colour, ed posters and inartistic stickers for the backs of envelopes, and while the Government Publicity Office prints folders and booklets by tens of thousands, all of them aiming to popularise New Zealand’s scenic attractions, some other department deliberately passes by one of the greatest possible opportunities of advertising the Dominion by insisting on working the King into almost every one of our stamp designs. Time wasI—although 1 —although it must be close on twenty years ago now —when New Zealand postage stamps were typically New Zealand,, when, to recall only two examples, the halfpenny issue bore a faithful representation of Mount Cook and another of the smaller denominations presented a scene from Milford Sound, with Mitre Peak in the centre. These stamps were not crude travesties of Nature, but beautiful examples of the engraver’s art. Why their issue was discontinued we do not know, unless the explanation is to be found in the new sense of importance which afflicted .some high officials when, from being a mere Colony, New Zealand was made a. Dominion. A stamp with the King’s head on it means practically nothing at all, absolutely nothing so far as identifying New Zealand is concerned; and l certainly it is no more artistic than would be Waimangu in full play, the Sutherland Falls, the Franz Josef Glacier, or Egnront’s white-capped cone. Hundreds of people receive letters without ever looking at the stamps on the envelope, but most of u's are more curious in regard to our oversea mail, while the humble (or mighty as the case may be) stamp collector is numbered to-day in his thousands. It is impossible to argue that well-chosen and skilfully executed scenic designs on her postage stamps would not greatly enhance the value of the Dominion ’s publicity work, in addition to adding a distinctively New Zealand note to all outgoing correspondence.