POSTAGE STAMPS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18236, 21 November 1924, Page 11

POSTAGE STAMPS.

EXHIBITION AND CONGRESS

The third Australian and New Sealand Philatelic Congress was continued at the Art Gallery yesterday. Visitors flocked in to the exhibition all day, .and w.ere interested in the manv remarkable exhibits. . ' "

The Hon. Sir H. Heaton Shodes, Minister of Defence, was a visitor at the exhibition yesterday. Interviewed, he said: "The exhibition is a really fine display. :It a splendid idea on the part of the Christchurch Philatelic Society to organise'it." The display would £erve, he said, to show the public that philately really was a hobby that involved study and" gave a wonderful amount of pleasure to those who took it up. * He had been • a collector as a boy, but he ceased to take an active interest in stamps about 1577, and his interest was not stimulated again until his appointment as Post-master-General in 1912 and his election as patron of the Philatelic Society of New Zealand.

"The stamps I am more particularly interested in," added Sir Heaton, "are the early issues of New Zealand. I feel that we should keep as many of these stamps as we can in the Dominion, and if I can get together a collection that is of sufficient merit I hope to give it to some public institution." Sir Heaton remarked that stamp collecting was a splendid aid in the teaching of the national history and geography of various countries. A'boy would gain a wide general knowledge as a result of collecting stamps, and he also derived considerable pleasure and even profit from, his hobby. Sir Heaton made a donation of £5 towards the expenses of the exhibition, and Sir Joseph Kinsey, another interested visitor, also contributed to the fund.'

Tho Congress. The Congresß was presided over by Mr A. L. Chappell. The following recommendations were brought down by a sub-committee consisting of Messrs A. W. Cousens, A. A. Blomely, W. L. Hooper, and E. P. Crowther: (1) Exchange club prices should be net subject to such commission, as its clubs may severally see fit to impose for working expenses, such commission not to exceed 10 per cent. (2) Exchange club rules should as far as circumstances will permit be standardised'in harmony with those of philatelic societies in New Zealand, incorporated under the laws of the Dominion. (3) Sheets for exchange packets should as soon as convenient be of uniform sizo, in "line with those issued by the Philatelic Society of New Zealand, the Christchurch Society, and the Victorian and Prahran Societios. The recommendations were It was decided to_recommend that interesting papers on' philatelic subjects should be interchanged by New.Zealand and Australian Societios; also that the scale of marks adopted by the judges for the competition at the present exhibition' should be adopted at future: exhibitions. The scale of points used was: Philatelic knowledge and research : displayed, 30; completeness, 25; condi-. tion, 20;. arrangement, 10; neatness, 10;. rarity,' 5. The judges defined "completeness" as meaning the possession of; one copy in good condition of each variety. ; . " . • • . The Congress passed a resolution of thanks to the: hon. secretary, Mr P. E. Jackson, and gave him an honorarium of £lO 10s.

On the motion of Mr Blomely, it was decided that the next-, exhibition and congress should bo held in Brisbane in : 1'926. ' '■"'"' ''•''•'.•■ ' :'. ' ' ■" ' ' ' Votes: of thanks to the lady helpers and the newspapers of Christchurch were passed. - . -■' ''.-