TWO NEW STAMPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21792, 5 May 1934, Page 15

TWO NEW STAMPS

AUSTRALIAN ISSUES (MELBOURNE CENTENARY [from oue own correspondent] MELBOURNE, Arril 26 The etiquette of Royalty and other considerations preclude perseverance with the idea of issuing a Melbourne Centenary stamp bearing the likness of Prince George, announced the acting-Postmaster-General, Sir Henry Lawson, this week, and it has therefore been decided to adopt a pictorial subject, illustrating the significance of Victoria's Centenary. The design, which has been imally approved, continued Sir Harry, avill show a view of the Yarra, as Batman and Fawkner saw it, side by side with an impression of the city as it is today. The stamp will be oblong in shape and considerably larger than the ordinary postage stamp. With its two panels and distinctive shape and colour it should be eagerly prized by collectors all over the world. A John Macarthur stamp to commemorate the centenary of the founder of the Australian wool industry is also to be issued. The Macarthur centenary, said Sir Harry, was too important to be allowed to pass without Commonwealth recognition. This special stamp, like that issued in honour of the kt'irt centenary, will probably bear a likeness of Captain John Macarthur. It is hoped to have it ready within two or three months, although normally six months' notice is required for an undertaking of this character. The issue of both new stamps will be strictly limited, but the number actually printed is always an official secret. The Director of Postal Services, Mr. H. P. Brown, has a keen eye to the revenue possibilities of these special stamp issues, and the mere announcement that the issue is to be limited always stimulates the interest of philatelists, even though the actual number of stamps printed may be double that imagined by the knowing ones.