Stamp Collecting.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5, 4 August 1906, Page 40

Stamp Collecting.

A gold medal was awarded at the London Philatelic Exhibition to Mr. T. Buck, for his collection of the stamps of Tonga. • • • Mr. Henry J. Crocker is reported to have lost stamps to the value of £15,000 owing to the earthquake and fire at San Francisco, his mansion being destroyed, and his bank gutted. The London Philatelic Exhibition saved his valuable Hawaiian collection from being similarly destroyed, because the stamps were despatched before the calamity. • • • Speaking at the official banquet in connection with the Philatelic Exhibition in London. Mr. John W. Luff quoted the following from an American humourist: "My son, consider the postage stamp: its chief merit consists in sticking to a thing till it gets there.” • • • "Please thank my brother philatelists for their good wishes on the occasion of our visit to Spain, and I hope that you are all spending a very pleasant evening,” was the message of the Prince of Wales to the Earl of Crawford at the official banquet held in connection with the London Philatelic Exhibition. • • • An interesting article appeared in the “Illustrated Brcefmarkers’ Journal” regarding the stamps issued in the Philippine Islands during the ten months, from June, 1898. until the 31st of March, 1899, while Emilio Aguinaldo was president of the native Republic. The article states that the destroyed telegraphs were repaired by the Filipinos, post and telegraphs were established, and men of high integrity occupied the most important offices. The stamps for the Republic were lithographed in a suburb of Manila. The first stamp of 1898 bears the Correo Y Telegrafos at the top, and Filipinas at the foot. In the centre within a circle is a triangle, this again contain? a sun with rays, and a star in each of the three corners. Below the triangle appears the value 2 cents, and below this is the letter K._ which is repeated right and left of the triangle, representing the initial of “Katipunan,” the name of a secret society which gave the first impulse to the revolution against Spain. The stamp is printed in rose on white paper, perf. 111. A second stamp of the same value was issued in 1899, and is in all respects identical with the first one. but the inscription reads Correos only, value on a white background; colour rose, perf. 11 J. Later a similar stamp was issued showing the value on a lined background. For registered letters a larger stamp was issued in 1898. Inscription at top Certificado at bottom 8c de peso, in centre within a double circle Gobno Revolucionario Filipinas. Colour, light-green, perf. 11J. There was also a newspaper stamp with the inscription at the top Impresos, at bottom Una Milesima. The devise in centre is the same as for the registration stamp with the exception that for the star a sun is substituted. Colour black. 1898 imperf.. and 1899 perf. 11J. Ms hfea.cf, ? crrbto c 4 12dt.toml • • • According to the article in the “Illustreertes Briefmarke Journal,” Aguinaldo was at first the catspaw of the United States Government. The following is the story as it appears; whether it is historically true is another question:—“Shortly before the war broke out between Spain and the United States of America, 1898, the revolutionary native inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, under their chief leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, had concluded peace with the Spaniards on the strength of promises which the later did not redeem. At the beginning of the Spanish-Ameri-can war, Aguinaldo was in Hong Kong. Of course, it lay greatly in the interest of the Americans to revive a rising of the Filipinos, as the natives are called, in order to press harder on their mutual enemy. For this reason the American Admiral Dewey supplied Aguinaldo with plenty of arms, and brought him back from Hong Kong to the Philippines on board a UJB.A. ship. Very soon tthe indefatigable insurgent was again at the

head of the Filipinos, organising a new rising. While the American fleet blockaded the capital, Manila, from the sea, Aguinaldo with 30,000 Filipinos besieged the eity from the land side. On 13th August, 1898. the Spaniards surrendered Manila to the Americans, who then occupied it, but declined the insurgents the right to enter the capital. Now it began to dawn on the latter that the United States were wishing to gain the Philippine Islands for themselves, and that the Americans were not their saviours but their enemies. In a short time the Filipinos were fighting against the Americans with the same intense hatred ns shown before towards the Spaniards.”