Rare Tongan Stamp
p. 64 · Read in the full issue
THE first stamps were issued in Tonga in the reign of Tonga’s “grand old man”, King George Tubou I. In the reign of his successor, George Tubou 11, the postal authorities resolved upon an innovation.
It was decided to issue letter cards similar to those then popular in New Zealand. However, Tonga’s tropical cli mate was not taken into consideration.
It was found that, as the gummed edges refused to open, the issue was useless as a means of revenue. Consequently, the cards were withdrawn, and, it is believed, destroyed.
The former Chief Justice W. H. Stuart, of Tonga, who is a keen philatelist, said in Sydney recently, that approximately only eight of these letter-cards now exist.
The judge lost his collection of stamps, with his other possessions, when the liner Rangitane was sunk in December. It so happened, however, that one of the valuable letter-cards was in his pocket book. It not only escaped a watery grave in the Pacific, but also the attention of the German officials on the raider, where he was a prisoner, with his wife. It is from this card that the stamp herewith has been reproduced.