POSTAGE ANNIVERSARY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 117, 16 April 1940, Page 6

POSTAGE ANNIVERSARY.

Stamp collectors throughout the Dominion have their interest directed towards the Centennial philatelic exhibition in Wellington, which is said to represent a display unparalleled in the experience of this country. Although New Zealand’s use of adhesive stamps dates back to 1855, this year marks, in fact, the centenary of the introduction of this type of stamp. The occasion is being • celebrated at Home by the issue of a special set of commemorative stamps and, although circumstances have compelled the abandonment of the original ambitious project for an international exhibition, the occasion is .to be fittingly observed on May G, the anniversary date. One name may well be linked with the centenary —that of Sir Rowland Hill, who conceived the idea of penny postage, fought for it, and had more part than anyone else in achieving its introduction in January of 1840. In 1837 lie published in England his first pamphlet showing how a postage service could be brought within the reach of all and, as a consequence of his evidence before a Committee on Post Office Inquiry, the adoption of a uniform letter rate was recommended. In 1840 the scheme was inaugurated at Home, but it is interesting to learn that two years previously New South Wales had adopted the reform, as a result of Hill s pamphlet. The introduction of the embossed stamp constituted it the first country in the world to adopt the prepayment of postage by stamps. Two years later adhesive stamps came into use in England. The inventor was James Chalmers, to whom the credit is now being given for conceiving the first designs. But it is lo Rowland Hill that gratitude is paid for the introduction of the famous universal penny post, for prior to his time the rates at Homo were very high, varying both ns to distance and the weight—even the 'size or shape of the letter. The boon thus bestowed upon the nation was of immeasurable benefit, for none can assess the worth of “the alchemy of correspondence.” To-day, when war and other exigencies have necessitated the abandonment temporarily, it will be hoped—of penny postage within parts of the Empire, it- is salutary to recall the times when His Majesty’s mails were conveyed at much higher rates and less expeditiously.