A PENNY STAMP.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1690, 5 March 1913, Page 4

A PENNY STAMP.

AS IT IS & AS IT MIGHT BE. THE LADY & THE GLOBE. TBy E.F.I That the "'majority of people aro exceedingly unobservant is a common enough remark, and by most people taken fargranted. But if anyone with a lot of spare time cares to test the validity of tile observation as regards New Zealand folk, lie cannot do better than take as the object of liis inquiry our current penny stump. Go up to any man in tho street and ask liim to describo in detail the design of tho Now Zealand penny stamp. It is a hundred to 0110 chance he begins to hum and haw and say that lie knows it well enough, but that for the moment it has slipped his memory. If, however, he is an observant man, he may be able to tell you that the main figure in the design is that of a woman. Even then tho chances are you have got him, for you immediately ask: "Who is she?" This is what in tho vernacular is called a "teaser." Seriously, who is the lady? Britannia? Can't be; where's the trident and shield?, Zealandia? Yes, it must be. Who was Zealandia? Is she Is T ew Zealand's Athena ? . The Natural Deduction. Such questions, unnecessary as they may hppear to tho busy man, nevertheless point to the fact that tho lady on our penny stamp is exceedingly short of acquaintances. Hie •' natural deduction from this is that the design is a bad one ill point of view that it does not represent New Zealand very well. For surely a country's representative should be kuown to tho people represented. But a stamp is more an advertisement than a representative of a country. Then wo have a i poor advertisement in our most important stamp. There are several points that could be urged as worthy of consideration when settling upon the design for a countrv's postage stamp. But, leaving historical and such-like points out of tho issue, surely tho main idea should he to make ; the design represent, in some clear way, tile country which issues it. For instance, the fern leaf on a Zew Zealand stamp would not be amiss. Australia has recently issued a new stamp, the design of which supplies a map of Australia, with an inset picture of the kangaroo as the emblem of the Commonwealth. The King's Head. But why not, when designing a stamp, acknowledge tho reigning Sovereign? A stamp is just as good currency as a penny with the King's head oil it. It may be argued that tho King's head takes up too much room on a stamp, and that it is better to have something local instead, liven so, tho crown and "G.R.". in one corner would, not spoil the border. AVe always inarif our letter-boxes and mail vans with the Itoyal Arms, so why not our stamps? After all, we aro proiid of belonging to the British Empire. There is ' 110 doubt that a stamp travelling into tho byways of tho world to a certain extent advertises its country, and For this reason it should have local colour, but let this local colour be intelligible to all who see it. However, let us eaxmino our penny stamp. It is red, has a fancy border broken at each side with the "Id." mark, and is'inscribed'"Dominion of New Zea- ■ land—Universal Postage—Ono Penny." The main figure is that of an innominate femalo, whoso arms, unless left-handed, appear to be out of proportion. This tho most casual observer discerns. Why the Globe? Looking into the design very, very carefully, we can discover that tho female who might be Britannia minus her Irident and shield, is standing in front of a globe, similar to those used in our public schools. What the globe signifies it is not very easy to surmise. Perhaps it is there to remind us of our early struggles in geography, or, on the other hand, it may , be connected with the "universal postage" 1 idea. In this case if the object of tho design is to advocate universal postage, then why not do away with the female and have more «lobo with a map 011 it showing the relative position of New Zealand in conjunction with the rest of > the Southern Hemisphere? In her hand tho woman grasps a rather curious im--1 plement thnt looks somewhat like the ■ "aquilii" of .one of Caesar's legions.. But ■ if'the lady is mythological, as isEuropa. > then she may be holding a "taniwha." • One' other noteworthy point regarding 1 this, problematical person. Her hair, • flowing wild, unmistakably indioates tho ■ fury of our north-west winds. In the L background of the design is an antiquated '■ steamer of uncertain date. Behind tho ■ steamer towers a distant mountain that i might be' Mount Cook, but is more likely 1 to be Mount Egmont, as the latter is • much- easier to draw.

What Might Have Been. . On ilio whole, the design is neither significant nor artistic. The lady holding the eagle or taniwha standing beside the globe might he anybody, nrnl the general design bo of anything or anywhere. Perhaps for ourselves nil this docs not matter, but the people who receive our letters do. sometimes glance at the envelopes and even note and collect the stamps. Is it not worth while then to have a stamp significant of the country of its origin. There are a thousand and one ideas that might well be worked into a design that would be more artistic and more suggestive of New Zealand than tho design 'of our present penny stamp. For instance, why not n fern-leaf border? or a Maori canoe rather than an out-of-dato steamer? "With so much material, exclusive material, to choose from, it is surprising that the design of our penny stamp has remained unchanged so long. Of course, technically it may be argued that tho design is fino art, but for all that it's "caviare to tho general."