SOME months ago Mr. G. P. Young,

Dayton, Ohio, sent me a stamp which he said came from Easter Island and had been given him by Captain Bradley Jones, U. S. Army Air Service. Captain Jones had obtained the stamp in December, 1916, when he visited the island as a member of an expedition on the non-magnetic yacht "Carnegie." An interesting account of this voyage and of places visited, including Easter Island, was published in the National Geographic Magazine for December, 1922.

According to the encyclopedias, Easter Island is a small island (area about 45 square miles) situated in the South Pacific Ocean, 1400 miles east of Pitcairn Island and 2000 miles from the South American coast. It is celebrated for remarkable images and structures erected by a vanished race. On many of the bluffs are found immense platforms, built of large cut stones, laid without cement. These platforms are usually placed where the land slopes toward the sea, on which side they are sometimes 30 feet high. Some of them are 200 to 300 feet long and 30 feet wide. On these platforms formerly stood huge stone images, some of them nearly 40 feet high, but averaging about 15 feet. Most of these images are now overthrown. In another part of the island there are remains of houses built of large flat stones, the roofs. being of overlapping stones, and the interiors painted with pictures of animals, etc. A very interesting description of these archaeological remains will be found in the National Geographic Magazine for December, 1921.

The stamp shown by Mr. Young was a Chilean stamp of the 1915-20 issue, the 1 centavo gray green, typographed. It was overprinted diagonally, in dull blue, "RapaNui," reading downward, from upper left to lower right. Apparently the overprint was set up from rubber type, inked on an ink-pad, and then struck by hand on the stamp. The stamp was unused and with full gum. As I wished to know more about it, Mr. Young kindly supplied the address of Captain Bradley Jones, to whom I wrote as follows:

"I have received your address from Mr.

G. P. Young of Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Young has been writing me about a stamp which he received from you and which you purchased at Easter Island in December, 1916.

"I find myself at a loss to understand how it can be used in Easter Island, or why it should have been overprinted with the native name 'Rapa-Nui.' I should greatly appreciate any information you can give me on the history of this stamp and the way it is used.

"My understanding is that this island has no regular connections with any part of the world, but is dependent upon passing ships to take letters, and in that case, I would suppose that the postage on such letters would have to be paid in cash, so that the captain taking them could purchase stamps at the port where he proposed to mail them. In the next place, I cannot see what possible use they could have in this island for I centavo stamps, as letter postage would be 10 centavos and the rate for a postal card 2 centavos, or probably 4

centavos.

"If you can give me any information as to the postal service of Easter Island and the connections with the outside world, also why they have overprinted these stamps 'Rapa-Nui,' I shall greatly appreciate the assistance. It seems possible that the overprint is merely a form of cancellation."

To this letter I received the following interesting reply:

"I have just returned from a short trip and find your letter of the 9th awaiting me.

"Rapa-Nui belongs to Chile. The name of Easter Island (or its Dutch equivalent) was given by Roggewien, who first sighted it on Easter day, 1722. Cook, the English navigator, was the next visitor (in 1774) and he used the name Easter Island to describe it. The Spanish name of Isla de Basma is used by Chile interchangeable with the native name of Rapa-Nui. The natives seem to use Rapa-Nui exclusively, but, of course, they have few occasions to mention the name, as, due to isolation, they are in a world by themselves. They probably came from the Marquesas-that is, their ancestors did-and it is reasonable to

believe that some, at least, came from the island of Rapa; whence Rapa-Nui, meaning New Rapa.

"At my visit in December, 1916, there were roughly 250 inhabitants; all Kakanas except two, the Chilean 'Governor' and a Portuguese. The Portuguese was sole survivor of a shipwreck some years before; he had gone native, and had no desire to leave, being quite comfortable. The Chilian was sent out by his government as representative. I believe he was supposed to make record of the weather, but, due to ships never calling, his meteorological observations were of little value.

"Chile leases the island 'en toto' to an This English company for exploitation. company has a herd of some 1500 cattle, which roams over the island. The natives kill an animal whenever desired for food, the skin being preserved. Whenever the schooner comes over from Chile a general slaughter takes place, the natives gorging themselves with meat, and what they do not eat lies on the ground and rots. Only hides are taken away. The company had a representative, a Mr. Edmunds, formerly, but he had been gone eighteen months before I touched there. The schooner is supposed to come once a year for hides. Sometimes it is a year and a half or two years or more. When we arrived it had been eighteen months since the schooner's visit. The natives wanted matches and soap.

"The Chilian 'Governor' had a supply of I centavo stamps overprinted with 'RapaNui.' As we were on a wooden sailing ship bound around the Horn, which is always risky, I purchased stamps and affixed them to several letters, advising relatives and friends in the United States and New Zealand of my safe arrival. My companions did likewise. The trading schooner (coming for hides) was then six months overdue, and the Governor promised that, as his successor was to come on the boat, he would personally carry them to Chile and see that they went North. It is my recollection that ten stamps were used, as they strung in a long row on the top of the long envelopes. None of my six letters ever reached their destination, and two of my shipmates whom I met a couple of years later reported that they had no better luck with theirs. I had four or five

unused stamps, one of which I presented to Mr. Young.

"So far as I know, except for the trading schooner which is manned by a nondescript Chilian crew, the only visitors in recent years was an English expedition of Mr. Scoresby Routledge, an archæologist, who studied the stone images there in 191314, and the German cruiser 'Eitel Friedrich,' who stopped and 'lifted' cattle in 1914, on her way round to the Falklands, where she took part in the battle there. My visit was on the survey yacht 'Carnegie.' There is a persistent rumor that the island sank in an earthquake a year ago, but I cannot get authentic information."

In answer to a request for permission to publish the information he had given me, Captain Jones wrote further:

"You are entirely welcome to use any part of my letter for your journal.

"Supplementing my previous letter, the post of representative of the Chilian government is somewhat unique. Sr. Solar called himself 'Gobernador' or governor, and in so far as he was politically the ruler of the island, he was quite right in so terming himself. Ordinarily there are no crimes to be judged or punished. It is a community; if there is no food everyone starves, if there is food everyone gets an equal share. The marriage ceremony, which civilization uses to force the male to provide for his offspring, is not so essential in a land where a child can stop at any hut and receive food and shelter. There is, however, a native priest familiar with the rites of the Catholic Church. Where all males have practically the same possessions, robbery is rare, as are the problems incidental to the domestic triangle.

"So the 'Gobernador,' while having the power of judge, is rarely called upon to act as such. He would be in charge of the police or militia, if there were any, but there is not. He is Governor of the Port, only vessels never call. He has charge of customs, only the sole exports are the hides, on which any tariff is as agreed upon in the English concession, over which he has no jurisdiction. There is no immigration, but if there were, he would act as Commissioner of Immigration.

"In short, the 'Gobernador' is a PoohBah, having many possible functions or jobs, only he scarcely is called upon to act.

Perhaps I might express it better by simply repeating that he is the sole representative of the Chilean government on the island and must represent his country's various bureaus or departments when necessary. Thus he represents the Chilean postal department as well as the weather bureau. Since the natives do not write, he himself would be the only user of a mail service, except in the rare cases when vessels like that on which I served touch at the island.

"It is to be remembered that the supply boat, which visits the island more or less regularly every couple of years, only goes from Valparaiso to the island and return, and naturally its mariners would have no use for a post office on the island. To my knowledge, the 'Mana,' belonging to Scoresby Routledge, and ourselves, were the only visitants within recent years.

"Senor Solar, as representative of the Chilean post office, sold us the stamps and received our letters which we desired to mail. The actual mechanism of whether he cancelled the stamps before delivering the mail to the Chilean post office at Valparaiso, I do not know. That is sort of an academic matter, it seems to me, as practically he never delivered the letters out of his possession, in my opinion (they never having arrived at their destination).

"It seems to me that the stamps must have been overprinted in Chile, as I do not recollect seeing any rubber stamp in the Governor's 'palace,' which was a wooden shack, with only the bare necessities of life."

To sum up: In 1916 there were Chilean stamps of 1 centavo on Easter Island. At

some time these stamps had received the overprint "Rapa-Nui." They were sold with the understanding that they would pay the postage on letters. They were affixed to letters, which were delivered to the Post Master, who promised that they would be posted at a Chilean port. Had these letters been delivered to the Chilean postal officials, it is safe to assume that they would have been duly forwarded through the international mails and would have reached the persons to whom they were addressed.

But, even had the letters been duly transported and delivered, could the stamps be regarded as an issue of an independent postal administration? Is the overprint anything more than a control mark, indicating that the letter came from an outlying postal station? As the overprint had been applied to the stamps before they were sold, was it a form of per-cancellation?

If any of Mr. Jones' letters had reached their destination, we would, at least, know how the overprint was regarded by the Chilean post office clerks. If they cancelled the stamps it would indicate that they regarded the overprint as a control mark. It could not be anything else, if the stamps were to be accepted as paying postage in a Chilean post office. And, if they did not apply a Chilean cancellation, yet passed the letters along, then we could only conclude that they regarded the overprint as a postmark. However, the letters never came through. So we are back where we started and there I must leave you, for the present, at least.

ENTER the Turkish Republic, with

Mustapha Kemal Pasha as the first President by unanimous election by the National Assembly at Angora. This news, contained in an Associated despatch, unquestionably will mean new Turkish stamps, with some commemoratives not unlikely among them.

Kemal Pasha did not wait to be chosen President, however, before offering his likeness to the philatelic public and the Turkish people. For his country he gained memorable diplomatic triumphs during the Lausanne peace parleys, and according to the newspapers on Turkey's final series prior to the birth of the Republic the new President is shown shaking hands with General Harington, a British representative at Lausanne, with a devastated town comprising the background. Values and colors are 11⁄2pi green, 3pi violet, 41⁄2pi red, 5pi brown, 71⁄2pi blue, 50pi orange, 100pi lilac and 200pi brown.

Prior to the election of Kemal Pasha the latter already held the title of president of the National Assembly, and he was the army's commander-in-chief. It was he who proposed that Turkey be proclaimed 'a republic, with the President to have power to nominate a Premier. He was backed by

Cor-Phew!

Na British newspaper we are told that "occupation stamps were issued by the Italians in Corfu," in September, in the form of current stamps of the kingdom of Italy overprinted for local use." The story goes on:

"The first series consisted of eight values from 5 centesimi to 1 lira, impressed with the single word 'Corfu,' while the second was additionally overprinted with local values in Greek currency."

The Italian stamps surcharged Corfu, according to Stamp Collecting, a British weekly, are the 5c, 10c, 20c, 25c, 40c, 45c, 50c and 1 lira; while those overprinted Corfu and new value in Greek monetary terms are 25L on 10c, 60L on 25c, 1.20dr on 50c, 2.40dr on 1 lira, and 4.75dr on 3 lire.

Corfu is the largest of the Ionian group of islands, with the chief town also named Corfu. It was incorporated with Greece in 1863 and prior to that was at various times owned by other powers, including France and Great Britain. Its history of the past few months is too familiar to require setting down here.

Rhodesia Divided

according to the A. P. story, the following proposals by Kemal:

"The language to be Turkish; the religion Ismalism; the President of the republic to be elected by the Deputies for a term of four years, eligible for re-election; the President to be the Chief of State, with the right to preside over both the Council of Ministers and the Grand National Assembly; the President to nominate the president of the Council of Commissars, who will choose his own colleagues, to be submitted to the Assembly for approval."

Having asked for all those powers for the Presidential office, and then having been unanimously elected to that office, Kemal ought to be influential enough in Turkey's affairs to dictate the designs for Turkey's postage stamps-for four years anyhow.

lectors through the issuing of more than 160 varieties of postage stamps by the British South Africa Company since 1890-has been politically divided into two sections, and it is expected that about April 1, 1924, two separate series of adhesives I will be distributed.

Rhodesia is, to quote an encyclopedia reference, "a vast region of South Africa extending from the Transvaal northwards to the frontiers of the Belgian Congo and Tanganyika Territory, and bounded west by Portuguese West Africa, Belgian Congo and Bechuanaland, and east by Portuguese East Africa and the Nyasaland Protectorate." (Good philatelic names, all!)

Under the political division recently announced, Southern Rhodesia, comprising 190,000 square miles, is transferred to the British Imperial Government, the change of administration to take place formally on

April 1st next. The smaller section, Northern Rhodesia, with 148,575 square miles, will continue to be administered by the British South Africa Company, whose name appears, either imprinted or overprinted, on all of Rhodesia's stamps to date.

On the design which has been current since 1910 the word "Rhodesia" is part of the inscriptions used. After April 1, there will no longer be any such country as Rhodesia; hence the logical expectation that Northern, as well as Southern, Rhodesia is to have new stamps, even though Northern Rhodesia will. still be administered thereafter by the British South Africa Company.

The British South Africa Company obtained a royal charter in 1889 through the efforts of Cecil Rhodes, statesman, who visualized a federated South Africa under the British flag. The company protects Rhodesia and is authorized to further commerce and to develop mineral and other

resources.

IN

With Accent On "Muss”

N the same British newspaper previously referred to it is stated that the Italian postal authorities are placing on sale "a set of particular postage stamps in honor of the anniversary of Signor Mussolini's coup d'Etat and the Fascisti march on Rome." To quote further:

"The design, which is said to represent a 'faisceau' in the style of Roman statuary, is the work of Signor Cambelloti, and the series will comprise five denominations ranging from 10 centesimi to 2 lire."

A total of 1,000,000 sets is reported printed. The story does not say whether they will be sold at post offices.

the ante by putting out a million-marks adhesive. Germany promptly matched this and, betting an additional four millions, came across with a five-million marks piece of postal paper. As we stagger to press, Danzig has retorted with a half-billion marks monstrosity and Germany has countered with a billion marks stamp. Final extra-score in eighth inning: Danzig 500 millions vs. Germany two billion. (What do we care about mixed metaphors, anyway?).

For 100,000 unused Danzig 500,000,000M stamps we will give one month's subscription to the Journal, sent postage due.

And now it commences in Poland! The inland letter rate was jumped to 3,000 marks on October 1, and a 3,000M chocolate appeared. The foreign tariff was fixed at 5,000 marks, with a registered letter costing 10,000 marks, and it is a good guess that between the time copies of this month's Journal left our downtown print shop and the time they reached West 44th Street, 5,000M and 10,000M stamps appeared in Poland.

New Jamaicans

AMAICA'S pictorial series, begun in

J 1919, is still in process of eruption.

The latest is an Armistic Day commemorative-8 pence in value-with the design showing the War Memorial Cross which was unveiled and dedicated at this British island colony a year ago.

"Child Welfare" stamps also have appeared in Jamaica, to be used for postage during November, December and January. The values are reported to be 1p, 11⁄2p and 21⁄2p.

THE

Internationalism

HE text, in the September issue of the Journal, in which Professor Edgar S. Brightman of Boston University associated philosophy with philately, was commented on in a subsequent issue of Stamp Collecting, published in England, and the writer took occasion to call Professor Brightman's attention to what our British contemporary had to say. The Boston professor's response, appropriately exclamatory, contains more, perhaps, than one grain of truth:

"One can get an international reputation through philately that would be a long time coming in philosophy!”