PHILATELY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2211, 16 July 1896, Page 23

PHILATELY.

By Or.D Stajip.

TO SUPERSEDE STAMPS.

A machine has recently been brought before the German postal authorities which threatens to supplant postage (tamps. Each firm or individual using the system has a machine, and with it stamps letters as fast as thoy are sent. At the end of the week or month the local post office authorities prepare each customer's account and send him a bill.

The apparatus is in the shape of a box, in front of which are several dials, resembling those of a gas meter. Underneath the dials are six push buttons, each beating a figure corresponding with the value of one of the Gorman postage stamps now in use. The letters to be stamped are slipped in a long, narrow slot. Upon each letter put within this slot there falls a steel die representing a symbol —such as the arms of Germany — with the inscription, " Deutsche Reichspost," and an unchangeable number, the latter being the t/umber of the raaohiue, which, impressed upon the letter, informs the post office who has sent it out and to whose acoount it should go. There is also a stamp giving the date apd the hour, controlled by oleckwork, which is only accessible to the postal clerk who comes weekly to inspect the machine. • The six* push buttons control a wheel containing dies for the various values. A letter to be stamped is pushed within the slot, and a pressure of- one of the push button* marks the envelope with the amount of postage required. The apparatus is so finely adjusted that letter after letter may ba inserted and marked at a rate of speed that would require a force of clerks using the ordinary stamp.

• . ' It has bsen computed by some authority who evidently has lots of time oa his hinds that there ard at the present time 13,400 different binds of postage stamps, cards, and envelope's in use by the various countries of the world.

• . • Rumour 6ays that the firm of Stanley Gibbom arid Co. have lately sold a;copyof a Cape of Good Hope, woodblock, 4d ml.unuied, error, for £500. Until lately this sticup was in the collection of Mr Hughes* Hughes, which' collection was recently purchased by the above firm for £2200.

* . • Ih Eogland a post card with a blaok edge may legally pass through Ihe post, bub if it has a black border it will not pass without a fine bdog psid. This, it appgars from the statement of an official, is one of the mysterious •• rules of the service." Possibly it may in the course of the next thousand years or so dawn upon the post office authorities that the office exists for the convenience of the public, and not as an object of worship. In that happy day there may be some chance of abolishing rules which are only enforced because they are rales, and which are of no conceivable use to the post office, the public, or auj body else. • . • The story of a curious stamp robbery jcomes from London. A valuable exchange c!ub packet, containing stumps valued at £200, was stolen from the counter of the Leadenhall street post office— and stolen after it had been registered and a proper registration receipt given for it. One would think such a theft impossible. This occurred on April 23, and since then the detectives have been incessantly at work on the case. Many of the stamps have been recovered and identified by their owners. One dealer was offered £30 worth for 30i by two boys, but suspecting something wrong he detained the stamps and informed the boys when he had satisfied "himsslf where they got them he would buy them. In other cases the stamp 3 were detained, but it ia needless to say the boys did not return to do business. In this way a largo proportion of the stamps were recovered. • . • The discovery of "finds" is not altogether such a rare occurrence. Regular ue.et» of old papers with stamps on them are now and then among the number. MaDy will recall the quantity of A torne6e on whole papers found a foffl seirs ago, the unused Philippine IsU'nds, the ULusgd early issues of English colonies, the Prussian octagonals unused, and last year's find of St. Loiiie'stamps. .'.; Majar Evans has an amusing article on the tintometer in the Monthly Journal, which, as life is short, he prefers to call Tin Tommy, and comes to the conclusion that the old scientific names of colours will«be found the more convenient for practical use. Time will show.

• . ' London journals are advocating the holding of another exhibition there under the management of tho London Society. The last one, held some years 6ince, was a marked success', and I feel confident that if started under proper auspices the undertaking would be not only a great success, bat would also give a marked impetus to philately. • . • In an article heided " Stamps of Impoverished States," in the Philatelic Record, Mr Edward J. Nankivell writes as follows :— "The poverty-stricken State having enjoyed so many dips ia the past it not to be choked off. We have no objection to continue the business of the dips if we can have some rational, fair and square arrangement, and we arc inclined to believe that some arrangement may b8 arrived at which shall be mutuaHy beneficial. Why not compromise matters a bit ? Let impoverished States that must b3 helped from our philatelic pockets on their side agree to discontinue the manufacture of commemorative rubbish and all arrangemeuts for the systematic sale of remainders a la Seebeck, and let us on our side raise no philatelic objection to an annual change of issues, provided they do not exceed the oi'diuary postal requirements of a well-ordered State. Such an annual issue would generate philatelic interest, and would in the long run bring far more money to needy exchequers than the spasmodio issue of commemorative shoddy. For years Spain annually changed its postage stamps, and collectors looked forward from year to year with interest to the new Spanish, and there would be no objection to-day to annual issues, even to Seebecks, if they were free from the hawking about of remainders, We commend this sag-

geation to the careful attention of tdl Ftit&a which feel the need of help from the poitafalto purse. We have no objection to maintain » few States, or to contribute to the maintenance of a few tottering thrones bore and there, bufc it 7s only fair thaf in snob an undertaking loma consideration should be extended to oar sentimental idiosyncracles. We are not over-exact* ing, we are only asking for genuine postal issues, and those we are willing to bay with » generosity that cannot fail to provide the needful funds for many an impoverished exchequer."