LANDSCAPE STAMPS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1722, 12 April 1913, Page 15

LANDSCAPE STAMPS.

•. — ' ' WHY THEY ARB CEASING TO BE ■ IBSU11I). Tlio United States Government lias just called in 2U,OIH),UUO stamps, ordered to commemorate tho opening of tlio Pauumi Canal, owing to an error iu the description of tho picture of tlio lock represented. This practice of printing landscapes'' on stamps has in its time been a tavolirito ono with many countries, though for, various reasons it is less popular tlinn ill used to be. , So profitablo was tlio practice found to. bo in Central America that tlio authorities issued fresh .designs every, year, tlio old stamps being demonetised ut tho end of overy twelve months. Tho printers printed tlio stamps without payment,, being allowed to keep tho dies, from which they struck off sets for stamp collectors (ill over tlio world. Tho practice, however, has now been stopped, owing to ' tile action of tho stamp collectors, who refused, to bo exploited m this way, and tlio printers nro jiald as in other countries. . , Perhaps tlio most artistic sot of pic-' torial stamps has' been issued by New-, foundland, several of whoso designs are of great beauty. Now Zealand and Australia have also issued many exceedingly effective landscape designs. But tho practico is fast dying out, and in regard ' to Now Zealand, only the more expensivn .stamps retain pictures, tlio head of tlia Sovereign having taken tho place of all other designs on stamps up to tho valuo of a shilling. In Australia, instead of various stamp,! being used by the different Governments, the Commonwealth has now adopted a universal design, consisting of tlio map of Australia, with a kangaroo in tho . centro. It is interesting to noto that mistakes on stamps nro usually discovered by collectors, who are always oil tho look-out for errors, as the stamps aro likely to In* . withdrawn. They aro moro common than may bo supposed. Thus, recently titi "t" was printed instead of "c" on a Newfoundland stamp, ail "i" was sul> stituted for an ' "a" in "Wnkatipn," n New Zealand name, and New South | WaleS lias suffered on two occasions recently, "Wales" being spelt "Walls" and "Wale." On each of theso occasions tho ' stamps were called in. The announcement has now been mado that tho new- Russian stamp, bearing tho Tsar's head, is to bu withdrawn from circulation, but for a different reason, and ono which lias never been brought for* ward beforo in the history of philately. Tho Russian postmasters, it poems, bains .loyal subjects of the Tsar, obicct on religious grounds to staimnn<> tlio faco of their ruler.—"Observer (London). After drowning a favour!to terrier, it' waiS stated at a Wallsall inquest, David Proud, twenty-three, a single man, toMmj wtrango in manner, and would nf-tni look' fixedly at a photograph of himself anil tho dog, to wliich ho frequently referred as "my old pal." On Pcbruarv IS lie was ' found hanging. A letter to relatives cmi.' tainod a skoteli of tho dog, and in another to a young woman, Proifd wrofo that ho would soon bo with his "dear old pal." A verdict of suicide while- of im« :«ouml mind 'was' returned. Warner's Double Skirt Corsets—the latest in corset. feiffmiiß—found only ij. Warner's make. Double from the ivjivj down; positively cannot tear. City Drapers.—Auvt.