The Stamp Album

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 50, 21 May 1927, Page 22 (Supplement)

The Stamp Album

THE CANBERRA STAMP.

Well, the special stamp which has been issued as part of the official celebration of the opening of Parliament House, Canberra, is not one over which we are going to be enthusiastic. The design is pa --.able, and has the merit of simplicity, but we do not think that it will spread any ripples in artistic circles. The stamp, which is illustrated here, is described officially as being in car-

mine-red, but the shade, jio doubt, will be a subject for argument among philatelists. The recess-engraving method has been used in the manufacture of the plates, the dies for which were engraved by Waterlow and Sons, Ltd., the plates themselves being made, and the. stamps printed, by A. J. Mullet t, Commonwealth Stamp Printer, Melbourne. R. H. Harrison was responsible for the design.

HAITIAN PICTORIALS, 1920.

Following the massacre of sonic 160 odd political prisoners in the prisons of Port au Prince, on the night of July 27, 1015. by order of President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. and his subsequent death at the hands of the infuriated relatives of the victims, U.S. marines were landed from the U.S.S. Washington, Rear-Admiral W. B. Caperton in command, on the following day to restore order, writes Harry E. Huber, in ’The Stamp Lover.” Occupation of the other ports of the Republic was effected during August. By the terms of the treaty between, the L T .S. and Haiti, signed September 16, 1915, the President of Haiti appoints (on nomination of the President of the United State*) a general receiver of customs to take charge of the custom houses. It follows that the Administration General des Postes, as a revenueproducing agency, was also taken in hand. There was on hand at the time of change in regime a miscellaneous lot of stamps of issues dating back to 1904, and these were made use of by the new authorities. As the lower demoninations were greater in demand, they were the first to exhaust, and stamps of higher values were surcharged down to lc„ 2c., 3c... or 5c., as required. Many had already been overprinted (and some surcharged) “Gl. O. Z— 7 Fev. 1914” (General Areste Zamor assumed the Presidency February 7, 1914; was ousted by M. Ravil mar Theodore on November 7, 1914; and was among those murdered by President Sam on July 27, 1915). The overprint or surcharge was always handstamped, and at no time was the printing press brought into use.

But after five years of surcharging, the stock exhausted, and in April, 1920, a new series was issued, in five denominations, 3c., 5c., 10c.. 15c., and 25c. de gourde. The stamps are horizontal rectangular, measuring 261 x 2Uim, and printed from line-engraved plates, in single colours, on white wove unwatermarked paper, in sheets of 100 (10 x 10). The printers’ imprint (American Bank Note Go.) appears in minute caps, under each stamp of the sheet. The perforation is single line 12, and the margins are without plate numbering.

the frame design is common to all values. Conforming to the arched opening of the vignette is “Republique d*Haiti,** with the figures of value in the lower corners and “centimes de gourde** between. Scrolls in the upper corners, and at the sides, complete .the design. The lettering and numerals are colourless.

The vignette of the He. and sc. stamps is representative of Agriculture. In a field of corn there is a labourer attended by an angel; in the middle distance another man is ploughing; and in the background a mill, a locomotive and the mountains.

On the 10c., 15c., and 25c., the vignette pictures Commerce, in a reclining position, facing the left, and holding in her hand a caduceus. At her feet are casks and an anchor, and in the background the sun is rising over a bods* of water on which there is a sailing "vessel.

Large quantities of the three lower demoninations were overprinted (in blue on the sc. and 10c., and red on the 15c.) “T.M.” (Timbre Mobile), for use as fiscal stamps. It was at first reported that the overprint signified “Timbre Ministerial.” and that the stamps were intended for use on official correspondence. When I visited the Republic on holiday in October, 1926, the 3c., 15c., and 25c. of this series were still current, along with the sc. and 50c. Borno, 10c. I.a Ferriere, 20c. Map and 1 gourde National Palace of the 1924 pictorial series.

Next to Cuba, the island of HaitiSanto Domingo is the largest, and one of the most mountainous in the West Indies. Its greatest length is 407 miles and extreme breadth 160 miles, with an area of 28,249 square miles. Haiti at the west occupies 10,204 square miles (population 2,050,000), and Santo Domingo, or as it is officially termed, the Dominican Republic, at the east, 18,045 square miles, with a population of 894,665. Port au Prince, the capital and chief town of Haiti, lies on the southwestern shores of the Gulf of Gonaives, and has a population of 125,000. At the time of its discovery by Columbus, on December 6, 1492, the natives called the island Haiti, or Quisqueya (wooded or mountainous country). Columbus . renamed it La Espanola, which soon became Latinised into Hispanola. Later, after the abandonment of the first settlement at Isabella on the northern coast (midway between Monte Christi and Puerto Plata), in favour of a site at the mouth of the Ozama River in the south (where a new town was founded in 1496, and called Santo Domingo), the wTiole island began to he referred to as Santo Domingo. And even when the western portion (the present Haiti) was secured to the French by the Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, they retained the name of Saint Dominique. The twelve-year struggle of the blacks for their liberty was brought to an end on November 19, 1803, when General Rochambeau agreed to the capitulations by which Cap Francais (the present Cap Haitien) was'surrended to General J. J. Dessalines (Tourssaint L’Ouverture’s successor as commander of the native forces). Eleven days later (November 30) the remnants (8000) of ♦he brilliant army of 25,000 sent out by Napoleon in 1802, in command of his brother-in-law. General Leclerc, went aboard the ships of the British squadron (which had been co-operating with Dessalines), and were conveyed from the island.

At Gonaives (the town from Whence L’Ouverture had been carried away a prisoner to France on June 7, 1802, and there to die in Fort de Joux on April 27, 1903) a general assembly of the national representatives was called for January 1, 1804. There, in the Place d’Armes, at dawn that day v Dessalines, accompanied by his officers, * had the Declaration of Independence read, and the country, assuming its aboriginal name, Haiti, was proclaimed independent. Since its emancipation, Haiti has had at various periods national holidays to commemorate the birth of distinguished men and notable events in her internal history. But since June 14, 1867, by article 201 of the constitution, only January 1 (Independence Day), and May 1, (dedicated to Agriculture) ’fixed by the first Haitian constitution, proclaimed on May 20, 1805, are celebrated. Article 21 of the latter constitution states that as Agriculture is the first and most noble and useful of all arts, it should be honoured and protected. DEMAND FOR RUSSIANS. According to a writer in the London “Daily Mail,” the demand for stamps issued in Russia since the Soviet Government took control has become keen. After an early experiment in free postage the Moscow authorities have swung to the other extreme, and have not only re-established postal charges, hut have nationalised the hobby *of stamp-col-lecting, all dealing in stamps being carried on under severe restrictions The standard stamps in general use represent pictorially the three classes of Communist State, the soldiers, workers and peasants.