Postage Stamps.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 4, 22 January 1903, Page 15

Postage Stamps.

Before the year 1834 such a thing as a postage stamp was unheard of ; but at that time a Scotchman Mr James Chalmers, of Dundee, suggested that it would " be a good plan to have little square pieces of gummed paper affixed to envelopes, to .show that the postage had been paid in advance. Ha was made the subject of much ridicule and discredit, as inventors often are • and physicians, predicted that the constant licking of the gum or mucilage would imperil the health of the whole nation Mr Chalmers persisted, however , and in 1841 had the satisfaction of seeing his pet device receive the approbation of the postal authorities.