§ 8.33 p.m.
§ Mr. John Woollam (Liverpool, West Derby)In introducing this debate on postage stamp policy, I think that I ought to declare an interest in that I am a philatelist, and I rather thought that in the mind of the Minister there was a lurking suspicion that my real reason for precipitating this debate was to cause him to arrange for the issue of more stamps in order to render obsolete the existing issues and so increase the value of my own collection. I am sure from the smile on his face that that was the suspicion in his mind.
§ The Assistant Postmaster-General (Mr. C. J. M. Alport) indicated dissent.
§ Mr. WoollamI have been looking into debates on this matter and I find that in the post-war years this House does not seem to have considered at all postage stamp policy It would seem appropriate to consider it now, so soon after the recent announcement that national stamps are to be issued for the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. That announcement has not been greeted with quite so much public interest as one would have expected, but there has been some criticism.
For my part, I welcome the initiative, and so far as I can understand the view of the philatelic world it seems to have been withholding its opinion until it has had an opportunity to look at the designs and what the appearance will be of these national issues. I would only make this extra comment on that policy, that I hope that these designs will be in accord with what I would call the style and poise of existing Queen Elizabeth II designs and also those used during the reign of the late King George VI.
As my hon. Friend the Assistant Postmaster-General is reconsidering our British postage stamp policy, I should like him at the same time to consider some other aspects, commencing with the high values. At the moment we have high value stamps which are quasi-pictorial. They show part of a view, yet at the same time they try to achieve the object of being impressive. It is a tradition of British stamp policy that 1762 high values are always impressive-looking.
But the current issues fall between two stools. They are not proper pictorials, and they are not dignified high values. I regard them as a failure, and I should like my hon. Friend to consider for a few minutes, alongside the current high value stamps, those high values which were issued in the first year of the reign of the late King George VI, from 1939 to about 1942 or 1943. He would find there a classic design of real heraldic dignity—the sort of thing which I understand his Department really aspires to in the designing of our postage stamps.
The news of these national stamps to which I have referred came very soon after a debate in another place on the general idea of issuing pictorial stamps for regular daily use on our correspondence. I do not hold any firm opinions about the issue of pictorial stamps. I would rather put forward this alternative policy to my hon. Friend, that we should hold fast to the present policy of non-pictorial definitives. He is going to vary them by introducing fresh sets for other parts of the United Kingdom, but I still think that Post Office policy is the best and the most acceptable.
I should, however, like to see combined with that policy much greater liberality in the issuing of commemorative stamps. I think it is true to say that the Post Office has been more liberal of later months in considering such requests for commemorative stamps. Many hon. Members were pleased when it was announced that there was to be a commemorative issue for the Boy Scouts' golden jubilee and another issue for the Empire Games in Wales. I should like to see such regular issues two, three or four times a year. I should like to see the Post Office looking out for occasions, events and anniversaries which are—and this is the test—of world interest and renown, but which still have a uniquely British flavour about them.
I should like to suggest that we have lost two first-class opportunities in the past year. We missed the opportunity last year of the 150th anniversary of Trafalgar. We missed this year the centenary of the institution of the Victoria Cross. When we consider some of our previous issues, it is very odd to find that we should ignore those events. 1763 We issued special stamps for the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Yet we did not acknowledge the centenary of the Victoria Cross. I should have thought that, on balance, the Victoria Cross enjoyed much greater esteem, sentiment and affection, not only in this country but throughout the whole of the Commonwealth, which holds the Order in such high regard. A first-class opportunity was lost there.
Again we are pleased to know that stamps are to be issued for the golden jubilee of the Boy Scout movement and to the memory of the late Lord Baden-Powell. Yet how odd to ignore the 150th anniversary of Trafalgar and the memory of Nelson, his captains and his men. What it suggests is that as yet the mind of the Post Office is not quite ready for commemorative issues and, therefore, its thinking is not yet on the lines of looking for opportunities and selecting those which seem right.
Before I leave that aspect of current British postage stamp design, may I renew a plea for an issue next year to mark the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in London? That gathering of 500 Parliamentarians is coming to London in the autumn of 1957. It has always been the practice of receiving countries to issue postage stamps whenever such a gathering comes to their shores. After all, the Inter-Parliamentary Union was founded by an Englishman, and when the Conference gathers in this country, in which is situated what we like to regard as the Mother of Parliaments, it is an occasion when we should honour it with a special issue of stamps. If we can issue stamps for a gathering of athletes in Wales for the Empire Games, it would not be unreasonable to mark the gathering of Parliamentarians in this country, of all countries, when one considers our Parliamentary and democratic traditions.
Those are the major aspects of postage stamp design and policy which I should have thought needed consideration, or reconsideration, at this time.
I should like now to allude to certain minor matters. Postage-due stamps are very much the Cinderellas of the British Post Office. Their appearance and design has remained unchanged for decades. I 1764 know that there is quite a good answer, that it is a utilitarian stamp which has not really to be pleasing or beautiful but has merely to tell the sorter very quickly how much money is owing for postage due. But that is no good reason at all for never revising the design or appearance of what is really a fussy and ugly stamp. I should very much like to see a new set of postage-due stamps being prepared. It is long overdue, and would be a very good opportunity for commissioning British artists to provide examples of something at which they excel, that is to say, the designing of modern lettering.
Might I once again ask my hon. Friend to look at some other stamps for comparison and guidance? I would draw to his attention the current low-value issues of Holland, which comprise no more than a numeral, but which are most elegantly and simply lettered and numbered and in every way pleasing and impressive. That sort of thing should be done for our own postage-due issues.
I have in mind next those British postage stamps which we overprint for use at British post offices abroad, especially in Tangier and Morocco. I do not know whether my hon. Friend can say anything at all about the policy with regard to those stamps and those post offices. I understand that the constitutional relationship between Spanish Morocco and Spain is about to alter, and I do not know how far that affects our post offices and the British stamps used there when overprinted.
All my remarks so far have been, perhaps, on the aesthetic or sentimental aspects of British postage stamps and policy in regard to them, but I am well aware that there is a commercial side to all this. The Post Office is a trading Department, which has got to make money. It wants to make more money, and it must judge many of these pleasant ideas by a commercial test. I would seriously suggest to my hon. Friend that, in moderation, regular issues in the small values—2½d. for the letter rate and 4d. for the foreign letter rate—do not offend anyone, and they encourage and maintain interest throughout the philatelic world.
If interest in British stamps is encouraged and maintained, and really begins to grow afresh, my hon. Friend will find that his own Department is commencing to have much bigger sales of the 1765 other issues, including the regular definitive issues and the high values. In all countries, collectors will want to complete their collections of modern British stamps throughout the whole range of issues, and there will be increased sales, and increased revenue, which ought, within moderation, to be the objective of the British Post Office. It certainly is the objective of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, and I do not think it would be out of place in our own country.
I hope that my hon. Friend, when he replies, will have some good news, and fresh news, for those who are interested in postage stamp policy, and that he will be able to suggest to us that there is a good deal of rethinking going on, and that the fresh wind, which I think I have noticed since his and his right hon. Friend's arrival in that Department, is still blowing.
§ 8.44 p.m.
§ The Assistant Postmaster-General (Mr. C. J. M. Alport)I am most grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Mr. Woollam) for his very well-informed and constructive speech. Perhaps I might start by trying to answer some of the questions he put to me, beginning with the question with regard to the future of the post offices in Tangier and Morocco. I am afraid I am unable to give him any information about that, but if he wishes to have it, I think a question could most properly be put to my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary.
My hon. Friend referred also to postage-due stamps, which are, I suppose, stamps of ill omen in a way. There would, no doubt, be a case for improving their look so as to soften the blow they carry with them to the recipient of the envelope. My hon. Friend is quite right in saying that nothing has been done to change the character of these stamps since they were first introduced in 1914. It is equally true that there is no excuse for any Government Department, whatever its character, not producing something which is up-to-date and modern and looks well in accordance with modern tastes in typography and design. Therefore, I assure my hon. Friend that we will look into this matter to see whether we can provide something that is more attractive and more up-to-date than the existing issue of postage-due stamps.
1766 As far as the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference next year is concerned, I cannot go further at present than say that my right hon. Friend hopes to be able to acknowledge appropriately the importance of this occasion. As it is, we have undertaken to issue a series of three stamps commemorative of the Boy Scouts' Golden Jubilee. Although there may be arguments such as my hon. Friend has put forward, for increasing the number of commemorative stamps, I think he will realise that it is a substantial undertaking, and that we could not promise to move from the very conservative approach which we have had up to now in this matter to producing, as my hon. Friend suggests, a considerable number of commemorative stamps within a year.
I was interested in my hon. Friend's suggestion that we should try to use commemorative stamps to mark great occasions of world interest and of particular British significance. I assure him that his views on this are views which we would consider with great sympathy and that we try, as far as possible, to use our stamp issues—as far as the commemorative features are concerned—to ensure that we can bring home, not only to the people of this country, but of the world, recollections of achievements which are peculiarly British but which have an interest beyond the boundaries of this country.
My hon. Friend was good enough to support the proposal announced last month by my right hon. Friend the Postmaster-General that with Her Majesty's approval stamps for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands were to be produced. This decision, as my hon. Friend said, has by some people been regarded as a revolutionary move, whereas others have said that it is a relatively insignificant departure from established forms.
When the new stamps appear, most people, I think, will realise that the change is neither revolutionary nor merely insignificant. The Queen's head will remain the dominant feature and symbolise the continuing unity and common loyalties of us all, while the background and frame will represent the diverse elements of history and culture which contribute to the richness of British life. Since the first "Penny Black" appeared, United Kingdom stamp policy, as my hon. Friend inferred, has tended to play for 1767 safety. Consequently, it has on occasion laid itself open to criticism of lacking enterprise and meaning.
There are arguments in favour of such a policy, as a Communist postal administration found recently when it issued a stamp to commemorate the centenary of the death of the great musician Schumann with a stamp bearing the opening bars of a symphony by Schubert. As pioneers of the postal system, I think it is right that we should from time to time strike out on a new line, while at the same time preserving the special character of our stamp issues.
There are good arguments for introducing an element of diversity which will add to the meaning, as well as the grace and dignity, of our United Kingdom stamps. I think, and I hope that you, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, would personally agree, that the vast majority of the people of Britain and Northern Ireland are proud of the sense of unity which animates us and is founded upon our common national loyalty to the Sovereign, but we are equally conscious as Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen or men of Ulster of the differing traditions and artistic heritage which each part of the United Kingdom contains. I suggest to the House that it is a happy thing to be able to indicate the contributions which the smaller, though none the less individual, parts of the United Kingdom, like the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, have made to our common stock of tradition and heritage.
Surely, as well, it is a good thing that this combination of unity and diversity should be symbolised in as many ways as possible. Unity does not necessarily demand uniformity, particularly in matters of art and tradition. We already have abundant evidence that my right hon. Friend's proposal has given pleasure in the various parts of the United Kingdom concerned, and I am certain that it will give equal pleasure to millions of people, of Scottish, Welsh or Ulster stock who live abroad, and for whom a letter from home is a reminder of long established ties of memory and affection. It will sustain the interests of philatelists throughout the world in British stamps, and if, as a result, the British Post Office earns additional revenue, I do not think that is an objection to our proposal.
1768 I think also that this proposal of my right hon. Friend will provide an opportunity to artists throughout the country who are skilled in what is a specialised but none the less delightful brand of art to show that they are as good as or better than artists overseas. We are fully conscious of the success of certain foreign issues, and my hon. Friend referred to one in Holland, yet naturally we are anxious to ensure that we do not lag behind in such matters.
I confess that, against this background, I was astonished at the petulance—I can think of no other word—shown by The Times in a leading article on 21st July. I leave it to others to decide whether they consider it appropriate to liken the proud symbols of Scottish and Welsh history to souvenirs from Brighton or Blackpool rock. I am merely happy to recall the celebrated story of the postman's hat.
Some time ago, a leading article appeared in The Times drawing attention to the fact that in those days postmen still continued to wear that curious cross between the bowler and the deerstalker which you, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, and, I think, many hon. Members of this House will recollect from their youth. The Times said it was disgraceful—or words to this effect—that the Post Office should lag so far behind other public services in condemning its servants to wear this type of headgear when it was clear that, both for the purpose of comfort and for other reasons, the flat peaked cap was the right headgear for the public service.
This attack, coming out of the blue as it did, caused great concern in the Post Office, and intra-Departmental discussions ensued. The file grew and grew until it became a very fat one indeed, and eventually the Postmaster-General of the day was able to announce the decision of the Post Office. The decision of the Post Office was to discontinue the issue of the bowler-deerstalker hat to postmen and to replace it with the flat hat with the peak.
The file ends with another leading article from The Times, which deplores the impetuousness and restless desire for change evidenced by the postal authorities in doing away with the well-known and long-honoured headgear of the Post Office servants, that cross between a deerstalker and a bowler, which was effective 1769 in keeping the rain not only off their faces but also off the backs of their necks.
Therefore, we hope that in due course we shall have the pleasure of reading the amendment in The Times of its previous attitude, the amendment in which it will congratulate my right hon. Friend upon his courageous decision to make this innovation in the stamp issue and the style of it generally.
There have also been criticisms from one of the directors of a very famous stamp company, but again we are consoled by the knowledge that in March, 1955, "Gibbons' Stamp Monthly" declared itself passionately opposed to small pictorial stamps. A year later, almost to the month, it came out equally firmly in favour of them. It shows, therefore, that even in that citadel of philatelic orthodoxy new ideas can find acceptance, and I am confident that it is only a matter of time before the Post Office is criticised not for being revolutionary but for not being enterprising enough in its whole approach to this problem of the design of stamps.
My hon. Friend has a very close and keen interest in this question of stamps. Therefore, I welcome very much his support. These matters may not appear to be of very great moment in the scheme of things, when we have been discussing in this House today matters of immense importance to everyone. Nevertheless, they are symbols in a way of the imagination and the vitality of the postal system in its approach to the administrative and other problems which face us. Our stamps have a great tradition in this country, a tradition which I can assure my hon. Friend we regard very jealously indeed. Nevertheless, it seems right that from time to time we should try something new, try a departure which, while preserving our traditions, at the same time will bring a new approach to some aspects of the design and the style of our stamps.
I am sure my hon. Friends and everybody else concerned with this problem will agree that, whatever changes may be made in their background, their framework, their colour, and so forth, our stamps should continue in all cases to bear the symbol which they have borne right from the beginning, which is, the head of the Monarch, as the dominant feature of every issue.