STAMPS FOR THE AIR POST.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 12 November 1924, Page 8

STAMPS FOR THE AIR POST.

THE LORD JELICOE) STAMP. LONDON, Sept. 13. “Aerosemists” is the name given to stamp collectors who* specialise ,in stamps used in the flying post. It is only six years since the first Government air stamp was issued-experiment-ally in Italy, but in that time upwards of 250 official stamps have been created exclusively for franking air-borne correspondence. They emanate from more than a score,of countries, “from Chiua to Peru.” Many of them arc already obsolete, and in consequence steadily appreciating in value. , “The heavy mortality in air-post stamps,” writes a correspondent cf The Times, “is due to a /variety of causes, the chief one being discern ’nuance of service through public apathy. In certain instances also air mail vignettes have only been used for a o*‘teirmihed period, in order to - segregate the .revenue accruing from this branch of the postal service. Again, special stamps have been prepared for purely experimental mail .lights which have hot yet been renewed, as in the case of the transatlantic air mail, and the flight from England to Australia. /Whatever the cause, a brief life is usually the portion of the air-post stamp, and this accounts partly for the relative scarcity of many cf the earlier issues. Both as, a meins of practical propaganda, as well as an aid to the keeping of postal accounts, there is much to he said in favour of the use of. distinctive, stamps for the air-pcst. service in; the view ol competent authorities. No fewer than fomteen countries still find occasion for ©fill laying air-post stamps, ten of them in th 9 trans-European system, the other four being the TJ.uteJ States, Ch>r,a, Morocco, and Syria. Among other countries where air stamo issues ore imminent are -Siam, Finland, and Poland.

“The historical interest of sir-post collecting dates back to the siege of Paris, when tetters Were despatched to the outer world by balloon pest, as well as by W.rief-pigeons. y ibc-neer postal flights, w.iirh took {dace between. the yeti's 19'D and Uil4, have ulh.their particular mementoes in the form ,of stamps, postmarks, o,r cachets struck upon the letters they carried, but so little attention was paid ,to’them at the time that some are of extreme rarity. Then, in the post-war.;period, we have the epoch-making flights of Hawker, Alcock and Ross-Smith, all of them, commemorated in stamps, and finally the lengthening list of semipermanent air-post stamp's. .. . ‘‘The air-post collector includes within his purview such extraneous ! as the semi-official labls or ‘etiquettes’ : J of aviation meetings where mail flights / were made, cashetey .franks, and postin fact;., anything that hstfs a bearing. tipon-the pdst. in the air. Entire envelopes, of cards showing-the stamps or, ‘marks/ of air-post seryice represent the air-post collector’s idfeal, ‘first-flight coveirs* being objects- of special'veneration. , , “Although such a- comparatively;-re-' pent innovation; the air-post collection alfesidyVboasts its fiafities, notably,tlio 24 cents TJ.S.A. air ihail ‘ stamp with cefitte inverted,, valued at £150; , ,-the awkPr trafis-Atlantic air mail stamp, worth about . £35; , and the R 34 ;Pnyeldpe £32,: ptc., while an important, collection of. : ‘flown covers’ recently changed' hands for well, into four ures. Societies of air-post collectors have been formed in Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, and America, and. they have a monthly journal.” The same correspondent states that “the Government of New Zealand is said to be: contemplating the issue; of stamps bearing the likeness of Lord jellicce'. the Governor-General, provided a, precedent for this course cap be found. In 1888 the Colony of New South Wales put forth a 5s postage ltainp, upon which appeared the coim- - ferfeit presentments of Lord Carrington, then Governor, and of Captain Arthur Phillips, the first Governor of Botany Bay. Although it is the unwritten law that the head of the Sovereign alone shall appear upon the postal currency of the Ehipire, we have, .the historical example pf .the Alafeking Siege .stamps that bore the Kkbnessof Sir Rbbdft Baddn-PoWell, afhd several other instances of commoners portrayed on stamps, including Nelson, Whiff, and Captain Cook.”. -