EMPIRE'S NEW STAMPS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14400, 23 March 1911, Page 2

EMPIRE'S NEW STAMPS.

COLONIES AND.KING GKOUUKb HEAD. t The New Zealand Government hj».» roquuSl-tU ALr UeJiuum Jiiicttcinu.j A.iL.A., tlit" iCUIptW, 1-0 '.iudw» gn ior a ulmv aci'.es oi x'"~»-uri-slump.* the tu_ —wu uou *• j ju- .o ..i be reiiic-iuiicn d, i* lue o* ta-cijUiUt-j. ii L - .a, a itac.vo ol .uuiuni..., liav-iig ucen 1^1 ; ; in*' M'eioouj tit* <n IdUtJ. - itr j* liiougiii pui*.nie .ji.a t i he penny stujup jioh ' jii use', n-isuv J ;it i'dJi to (JUia.UIOUI-01 ate Z,e. ; liilt!d S ago/ 3 will not be superseded. It is expected that the stamps or all' other VUllKc U .»; lie .... o ..w s:gn, d:licr»ng troin eacji uTjict .outy 1/1 colour and m the words or figures; ■ denoting their values.- --• • The central figure of the design will bo King George's head. Stamps bearing King Edward's head, of values from 3d to Is, but omitving the Id, 'were issued as lately as 1-909,- following a s?ries of beautiful, though almost miccrcseopic, pictures of the Dominion's birds and mountains. New Zealand will not be the first to place King George's head on her. stamps. Last year Newfoundland added to her commemorative series a 15 cent, stamp showing His Majcs;:ys portrait, • King Edward's Jicad having a p. peared on the 12 cent. As far hack as 1899, in Queen Victoria's re gn. our present King's portrait appeared on this colony's fiv-o cent, stamp. The Union of South Africa issued last November a large special stamp, blue-grev in colour and 2sd in value, with King George's head in the middle and the arms of the four constituent colonies in the four-corners. These are obtainable in-London at the H : gh Commissioner's office, 72 Victoria street, where as many as 38,000 have already been sold. Before deciding on a. regular issue of Union stamps the South African Government will probably wait to see the King's port-rait on the Mother Country's stamps, which are expected to appear about Coronation time. Meanwhile, the stamps of all the South African colonies have been made interchangeable. Any stamp issued by Cape Colony, Natal, the Transvaal, or Orange River Colony may he uied in any part of the Union formed by thosu four terrtories. For Rhodesia the British South Africa Company has issued a stamp showing tbe heads of the King and Queen to commemorato the Duke of Connaught's vi.sit; but there is no present intention to supersede the stamps bearing the company's arms. The Federal Government of Austra- ! lia will probably offer a handsome pri-zo ; in the near future fof competitive designs of a. series of Commonwealth stamps, and it is very likely that the , King's head will be the central-feature. The various States are st'. 11 using their own stamps, and these are not even interchangeable. A traveller from Melbourne to Sydney, for instance, finds, when he crosses the frontier from Victoria into New South Wales, that tbe stamps ho bought in the one State are useless in the other. Last year a Postal Commission recommended the issue of Commonwealth stamps as sooii as possible, and estimated that by doing away with the separate printing < f stamps by d'ffercnt States about £I.OOO a year would be saved on the -Id,'id, and 2d varieties alone. " ' So far, even the head of King Edward is hardly ever seen on an Australian stamp. It was adopted only for the I*l and £2 stamps in Victoria. Whero and Monarch's head appears it is that of Queen Victoria. Tli s is still used, with the exception of the two values just mentioned, ion every at amp of the colony bearing her name and on practically every stamp of South Australia ad Queensland. A few years ago Queensland issued a 9d sramp Showing an emblematic figure with '•Commonwealth" inscribed on an arch and the names or initials of the six States on the supporting pillars. New South Wales issued a similar design for a stamp of the same value, but otherwise this State lias of into years generally displayed Queen Victoria's head, or the State arras, or an allegorical .figure of Austral'a, or a view of Sydney Harbour, or a picture of an enm, a lyre-bird, or a kangaroo. Tasniauian stamps show either Queen Victoria a j portrait or a view of local scenery. I Western AustraVa clinus t:> the tid black swan, but Queen Vie-to: isi appears on the 2s, 2s Gd, ss. 10s. and £1 stamps. Canadian stamps for many year s ; have been marked by uniform'itv and simplicity. Ou the advent of Imperial penny postage a special stomp was is- ! surd bcariug a map o!' the world, with 1 the ISritish domains .in rod and t 1» inscription "We bold a vaster Emp'ro than has been." The Tercentenary of Quebec also was celebrated by tl e issue of a special series, mostly showing historic scenes, while King Edward : and Queen Alexandra figured together on the two cent stamp and our pry- ' sent King and Queen on the i cent. The issue used befoTo and since that event, however, is uniform. King Edward's head appearing in the oval ureviously occupied bv Queen Victoria's, though it is not the portrait that Ave •use here. No announcement has vet been received from Ottawa, but it is thought almost certa : u that the rule of uniformity will be maintained, and that King George's head will appear in the new issue as his father's did in the old. INDIA AND THE OROWV COLONIES. , India, like South Africa, is for the nresent- taking n-> nct : on. When K'-nc

i'.owjiril i-nio the Throne th<] por- j rrai. 'of his designed for OIU* ' own stumps -.vu- adopted ior those of j India, and iho same pruecduro will iiimost certainly lx» carried out in the case of King George. The Crown Colonies .H-aUtired over the world will also waii til: the King's portrait; is produced hv our inland liavenue Department and approved of by lis majesty, and probably this -present stamps will continue in u&e till the end of the year. It is not likely that the King's bead will be universally adopted even then. There was a general movement during tlio l-ist xv'cn towards a more or less uniform system, and our familiar profile of I\ ng Edward now appears mi nearly every stump brc-ed in the Crown Colonies—except the "Wosc Indies. The system bus tho advantage of cheapness; but the \V«sr Indian islanders like something distinctive, and the Crown Agents in London try to satisfy their local nniriotism. Grenada adopted th-e King's head puttovri but abandoned' it lor Columbus'a flagship. St. Vincent also tried the experiment but has .since a'dnnte;] an .emblematic group "Pax et Justita," except for tho higher values. 'Montserrnt show the Royal features only on the v us stamps. T.rin dad remains.true 1/j her sea tod Britannia in a chariot drawn by seahorses; Jamaica the colony's arm?. King Edward ep- ; pears again on most of the Baham.ui : clamps. Bermuda —u hcb is hardly to lie reckoned West Indian—disnlayd only si view of her Hoatin'/ dork. Our fv>ut-h American colony. British Guiana, refuses to desert Iho historic full-rg-ged .-hip.