PANORAMA OF PANAMA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 December 1924, Page 15

PANORAMA OF PANAMA.

AS SEEN IN ROST AGE STAMPS. -A HISTORY OF MANY YEARS. Some day I should like to start a collection tb interest net only the philatelist; but 99 per cent, bf the phiiistiiies frlio feared/to exariiirie it , writes Fred J. Melville iri the Daily Telegraph. It Would be an endeavour to tell the story of the- greatest engineering feat oi our time by means bf stamps,: It is just ten yfeafs siriee the Americari Ship Aricoti sailed from sea to sea through the Panama Canal, hub out stamp story goes back to the first stamps bf the sovereign state of Panama, one of the United States of Colombia, in 1878. It might, itidefed, be prefaced with the four stamps bf the Suez Caiial Company which appeared ih 1868, arid of which I believe only tlife 20 centimes blue was ever used. The opening of the Suez Canal directed attention anew to, the Isthmus of Panama, and when the State, issued its stamps the design was calculated to emphasise this route. , The designs show a sketch of the Isthmus, .with a ship sailing on the sea at each side. There are four values, and these, although not expensive, are the scarcest items required for Our collection. In the next issue which appeared just prior to the collapse of the De. Lesseps Company, the stamps bear a map of the Isthmus on Mercator’s projection, arid this style of stamp in ..various editions bontinued in use iri Pariairia until after the severance of the State from Colombia. But we may compare the map of 1887 with that .of 1892, for there is a subtle change. In the eaiTier map stamps ,a range aitis extends the whole length of the Istlimris Without a break; iri the 1892 stamps the Panamari' cartographer,’ s faith has removed Die mountains at the point where the canal' route crosses. There are many .provincial overprints, but none significant for our story collection until ,1903, wlifen the steirips were' overprinted “Repiiblica. dfc Paminia” to iridicate the change bf status of thi .ebuiitry. This also .marks' the active; begimiing of the United States project for the canal, arid the acquisition of the 120,000 acres of territory now kiiofrn its the Cabal Zone, distinctive s'tampS are used. But we may go .back a fe\k years arid take iii some of the stairips of the cbiintry offering the. rival jo.ute of the canal. Nicaragua in. 1896 issubd stamps bearing a, map shoeing Bow the banal passing through Nicaragua frouid have the natural advantage of the. Sari Juan Rivet arid the , great, Lake Nica/ ragua. For several years the irierits of the rivaj : routes. were weighed in the Uriited States, arid it was a postage stanjp that finally turned the scale arid secured a narrow margin, of. votes iri the Senate in favour of Panama, . The partisans of the Panama route had indicated the danger from active volcanoes along, the proposed Nicaragua route, but their opponents protested that there Were no volcanoes, aetive or otherwise, in Nicaragua.. The versatile Frerichriiari, Lieut-Colbnel.Bunau-Varilla, like’ so many of his fellowebuntrymen, had dabbled in stamp c olJbctirig, arid he recalled a then recent issue of Niediagria stamps which depict the volcano of Mbnotohibo in active Erriptiori. He sent round to the stamp dealers arid gathered iri a substantial quaritity of exaihp’les of fhg 1900 issue, bearing this view, and shEt one to each member of the U.S. Seriate with the note': “Pbstagfe .stahip of the Republic of Nicaragua; .an Efficial witriess-of the volcanic activity of^. Nicaragua.” . At thqt tiriio the terrible tragedy of M.t. ,of 1902 was still fresh, in the mepofy, ah'd of the pbstage stajnp was decisivfe .Sb these Mbmotombp stamps have‘a. claim to- a place in our story collection, and thev are worth examining clbsely. The realism., -of the volcano, in eruption is intensified by a ; clpte study of the foreSi’qpri.d. of the picture’, frhere a- trier is crowded with , people who, have been brought afray by train and are preparto ehibark on a ship to escape the terrors, bf eruption, ~Ui Jurie, 1904, the first stamps of the canal zone were issued under the American administration. .. They were Panama stamps' purchased frofe the Republic, and overprinted “Catnal Zone.” For greater part of tlie period they wefe bought from the Republic ,at. 40 per, cent, of their face value. Successive issues of the Panama Republic stamps have been so overprinted untilthis year. - When a series of United States stairips Ha's beeri overprinted for use iri the canal zone. The overprinted . stamps exist in great variety for the .specialist, but .it is not heefessafy to . burden . tlie collection we are describing With philatelic detail. From 1906 the stairips of Pariania. (arid of the canal zone) present a range' of pictures which help to illustrate the story and achievement of the canal. The 400th centenary of the discoverv of the Pacific is markfed by a stamp picture of Balboa sighting the “Southern 1 Sea.” In 1915 a, panorama of the canal and of Panaina appeared on a series of picture stamps.* These show the falls of Cliorrera, a relief map of the canal, Balboa taking possession of the Pacific Ocean, the cathedral of La Antigua, the Palace of Arts, Panama Exposition, Gatrin locks, the Culebra Cut. and the monastery of San Domingo. Among these there occurs one of those scarce philatelic freaks, a stamp with inverted centre, the sc, with the locks of Gaturi upside down. Postage due stamps of frie same period show,the statue of Columbus at Colon, various views, and a nortrait of the Panamian engineer, Pedro J. Sosa, and the series is continued on stamps issued in 1918 and 1921. Our collection would not overlook the stamps issued .in the United States'in 1913 to commemorate the opening of the canal, a set of four beautiful stamns.- depicting Balboa, the Canal, the Golden Gate, and tlie discovery of Sail Francisco Bay;