ON ISSUE TO-DAY

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 43, 15 November 1926, Page 8

ON ISSUE TO-DAY

THE NEW PENNY STAMP “UNIVERSAL” DESIGN SUPERSEDED Simultaneously at the post offices throughout the Dominion to-day will be placed on sale for the first time the new penny postage stamp which is to supersede the issue of a very familiar design. From the reproduction of a specimen given below, it will be seen that the central feature, of the design is a bust in profile of His

Majesty the King in uniform as a FieldMarshal. The side borders of the stamp depict Maori art, while the stars in the lower corners represent the Southern Cross. The artist was Mr. H. L. Richardson, of Wellington. The die was manu-

factured by Messrs. Waterlow and Sons, Ltd., London, and the printing plate by Messrs. Perkins, Bacon and Company, also of London. . The printing was done at the Government Printing Office, Wellington. The new stamp will supersede the familiar Id. “Universal” stamp which has been in use, with slight variations, from January 1, 1901, Jthe date on which penny postage was introduced in New Zealand. From that date postage on inland letters and on letters to most British possessions was reduced from 2d. to Id. for each half ounce.

In 1900 the number of letters posted in New Zealand was 36,000,000 or 47 per head of the population. In 1901, following the introduction of penny postage, the figure jumped to 48,000,000 and 62, respectively, while by 1914 they had increased to 115,000,000 and 105 respectively. The increase to 2d. in August, 1920, of the rate of postage on letters however, caused the .number of letters posted per head to drop in 1921 to 99.5. ' In February, 1923, the letter rate of postage was reduced to IJd., and in October of the same year it was restored to Id. The reversion to penny postage caused the number of letters posted per head of the population to increase in 1925 to 110 and present indications are that this rate will steadily increase. The New Zealand Post Office has always advocated universal penny post- , age, with the result that to-day letters can be sent for Id. from the Dominion to all parts of the British Empire and to all foreign countries which . have agreed to accept letters from New Zealand prepaid at that rate.