NEW POSTAGE STAMPS.

Thames Star, Volume LXV, Issue 19373, 2 April 1935, Page 3

NEW POSTAGE STAMPS.

THE PICTORIAL ISSUE. Appearance On May 1. AN INTERESTING HISTORY. CLASH WITH JUBILEE SET. It is learnt from an official source that the new pictorial issue of New Zealand postage stamps will be on sale for the first time on May 1. It is four years ago that the New Zealand postal authorities decided that the Georgian issue which was introduced in 1915 should be replaced. But before these new stamps reached the stage of actual publication there were many set-backs to hinder their appearance, and the history of the issue has been perhaps as interesting as any other brought out for the Dominion.

The department issued a specification for 15 values, and invited artists not only in New Zealand, but also overseas, to compete in a competition which was to close on September 30, 1931. Prizes of £25 wero offered for each design accepted. A special board of adjudication, comprising Sir R. Heaton Rhodes as chairman, Mr. G. McNamara, Direc-tor-General of the Post and Telegraph Department, Mr. Johannes Andersen, of the Alexander Turnbull Library, and Mr. R. Wallwork, of the Christchurch School of Art, met and considered the designs submitted, which numbered more than 1500. From these they selected 14, 13 of which were by New Zealand artists, and one resigned by an engraver attached to the Indian Government Printing Office at Nasik.

New Process

The board had been attracted by contemporary European stamps, produced by the photogravure process, and it was originally intended to have the New Zealand stamps also produced in this way. Tenders wero obtained by the High Commissioner from British firms, and one firm was instructed to submit proofs. Tho execution of this work naturally took some time. The photogravure proofs, when submitted to New Zealand, were considered unsatisfactory, it is stated, and it was then decided that all the values with the exception of the 9d. should be produced by tho line-engraved process, which is at present used for the New Zealand stamps from 4d. to 1/-.

A fresh contract was entered into with Messrs. De La Rue and Company, but after the engraving had been commenced it was discovered that some alteration was required in some of' the designs, and that in one instance the selected design was entirely unsuitable for reproduction, After the die proofs had been ultimately approved, considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining the necessary supplies of suitable) paper, and it was not until Mr. McNamara visited London himself last year that this matter could be arranged.

Printing in Dominion.

An initial printing estimated to be adequate for one year’s supply of each value has been printed in England, and after this supply becomes exhausted, it is proposed to continue the printing in New Zealand, as was done with the previous pictorial issue of 1898. To meet the wishes of people who may want to send specimens of these new stamps to friends overseas, the department has decided to have a series of special pictorial envelopes printed and distributed through the post offices for use on the first day of the sale of tho stamps. The envelopes, in addition to appropriate scenes, will have an inscription, describing the circumstances of their issue.

It is stated by a philatelist that a rather interested position will ariso with the id, Id and 6d values. From May 6, three stamps of these values will be placed on sale as part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of his Majesty’s accession, In Great Britain and in the other Dominions and Crown colonies it has been decided that the jubilee stamps will remain on sale until the end of the year and that they will replace the equivalent values of the ordinary postal set. If the same practice is followed in New Zealand, it will mean that these three pictorial stamps will be in use for five days only, and will then be withdrawn, while the jubilee stamps are on sale.