FORGERS FOILED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 11 August 1942, Page 6

FORGERS FOILED

STAMPS FOR COLONIES OF FIGHTING FRANCE A new “fugitive” ink for cheques and other documents which spreads when tampered with by forgers has been developed by London printers. Successful experiments had been made when war broke out, but in spite of being very busy on war work they have found time to develop their discovery. Printers of postage stamps for Britain and the Colonies, the latest war job to come their way is the series issued for the Free Colonies of Fighting France. Only a few weeks after General de Gaulle’s troops landed on the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, near Newfoundland, these printers were at work on the colony’s new stamp, the most recent of the series. Designed by Edmund Dulac, famous illustrator of French and English books who was also responsible for Britain’s Coronation stamp, there are separate issues in 14 different colours for each colony. All of them embody the traditional “R.F.” and the Cross of Lorraine, emblem of Free France, as well as the words “France Libre,” but there the similarity ends. The Cameroons stamp bears a shield similar to those of thick leather borne by the native huntsmen of the Mandate; French Equatorial Africa’s stamps depict the Phoenix, symbol of France’s re-birth; whilethat of the French Establishments in India features the lotus flower. For Oceania, the Tahitian tipairua, or double canoe, is an emblem of local significance, as is New Caledonia’s unique Kagu bird. The air mail stamp shows an aeroplane of such recent type that it was not even under production when the stamp was designed. Although the British postage stamps can be turned out at the rate of 5,760,000 an hour, each sheet of 480 stamps has to be carefully examined by hand, and every scrap of paper accounted for. Even the tiny pieces left by the perforating machine must be collected and re-pulp-ed.