Introductory notes to the study of the stamps of the colony by noted philatelist Fred J Melville. First published by “The Postage Stamp” (October 1913).

FOR the specialist the stamps of the Straits Settlements and the allied groups of States offer an almost limitless field for research. They have been dealt with in several notable collections now dispersed; in the literature of stamp collecting the issues of the Straits Settlements proper, however, have been much neglected.

Much has been written concerning the Straits stamps overprinted and surcharged for use in Bangkok and in the several States of the Malay Peninsula, but practically nothing has been written of the stamps of the Mother Colony. This, and the comparative unpopularity of the stamps, are doubtless due to the complexity of the surcharged provisional stamps used in the Colony.

Probably many collectors still consider that the frequency of surcharging indulged in by the Straits was due to the easy-earned revenue to be derived from their sale to philatelists. In this respect philatelists too often betray an exaggerated sense of their importance to Colonial Governments, which rarely give much consideration to the special fancies of the collector.

The true origin of the occasion for so much surcharging here in the Straits, as in many another colony, and in some foreign states must be laid to the defective system by which the Post Office Department uses, but does not order its stamps from the printers, and the Treasury Department actually orders the stamps from England, retains the stock, and furnishes supplies from stock to the Post Office on requisition. It is easy to see that difficulties may rise from this system unless a wide margin of stock is permanently maintained at the Treasury Department. Stock may be well in hand when some change in the postal tariff, or some new postal route opened up causes a hitherto little used stamp duty to come into more extensive demand, or an order for a large quantity of stamps from a stamp dealer may upset the calculations of the controller of the stock of stamps. In any case the regular stamps have to be obtained from London, and take a considerable time to print and to deliver. We have entered into these details as it seems to us too common, among many philatelists to attribute these vagaries of our colonial stamp-issues to discreditable motives, e.g., the perversion of a government service to private or unearned official gain. In the East the prevalence of surcharging has largely been due in Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Hong Kong and Siam to the Treasury control* of stock, combined with the unavoidable delays which must ensue between the time of ordering and that of the delivery of stamps printed in London for use in a far-distant land.

For the general collector the variety and extent of the surcharging in Straits stamps, which provide the spice of life to the specialist, are liable to prove  tedious and uninteresting. But for the general collector this need be no reason for his neglect of the stamps of one of the most interesting series of British Colonials, and incidentally of one of the most important of our Crown Colonies. The general collector and indeed every collector will find it good policy to be a law unto himself, and take the stamps which interest him leaving the stamps of complicated series to the student of such minutiae.

In the present notes on the Straits stamps we have not laid ourselves out to present an advanced specialist study of the settings of the surcharges; while noting the outstanding features of them we have laid no special emphasis on their importance to a collection. Rather we have endeavoured to condense them within the limits of the average collector, and if our notes on the issues of this colony serve to stimulate some reader or readers to delve into this neglected group of stamps, a group which has never been the subject
of a connected article before, our chief purpose in dealing with the subject will have been served.

The absence of printed books, and articles on the subject has complicated the task of allotting dates to all the regular issues, and we would remark that in endeavouring to ascribe dates to many of the stamps we do not offer those given as more than the approximate dates of issues. Possibly some of our readers in the Straits Settlements who have specialised in the stamps of the colony of their adoption will be able to furnish us with more definite dates, as well as with much information not known in the homeland of the printings and circumstances of issue of many of the provisional stamps.

The prices given in the following notes are, whereever possible, those of Messrs. Stanley Gibbons Catalogue (1913 edition) and in a few cases where the stamps are not quoted therein we have given prices at which we know the stamps to have been sold recently, or to be available-at-this date (September, 1913).

In concluding our introductory notes we should like to invite those possessing collections of these stamps to compare their collections with our notes and send us additions and amendments thereto, and we should appreciate particularly new evidence from colonial collectors of the dates and of occasions for many of the issues. Letters on this subject should be sent to the Editor of The Postage Stamp.

It is not our present purpose to offer a geographical or historical treatise on the Colony of the Straits Settlements, but it would be well at the outset to dispel by a brief statement some erroneous notions as to the boundaries of the Colony and its association with the Malayan States.

The Colony of the Straits Settlements proper includes Singapore, Penang and Malacca, to which have been added the Dindings (Pangkor and the Sembilan Islands, ceded by Perak in 1826 and confirmed in 1874) the Cocos or Keeling Islands (in British possession since 1857, controlled from Ceylon, 1878 – 1886, and by the Straits Settlements, 1886-1903 and annexed to the Straits Settlements, 1903), Christmas Island (in the Indian Ocean, administered since 1889, annexed from 1900 by the Straits Settlements), Labuan (incorporated in the Straits Settlements, January 1, 1907.) The Governor of the Straits Settlements is ex-officio High Commissioner for the protected Malay States within the British sphere, and also for the federated Malay States.

The separate Malay States not at present within the “federation” are :-

  • Johore.
  • Kedah.
  • Kelantan.
  • Trengganu.
  • Perlis (the posts of which are worked with those of Kedah), and the
  • State of Brunei (administ~ered under the Governor of the Straits Settlements as High Commissioner for Brunei from 1906).

The “Federated Malay States include (in order of precedence) :-

  • Perak.
  • Selangor.
  • Negri Sembilan. i.e., “Nine States,” an earlier federation of States, nine in number, whence the name “Negri Sembilan,” but to which a tenth,
  • Sungei Ujong, was added in 1895
  • Pahang.

These Malayan names are pronounced Peer-ah, Su-lang-or, Negree Sem-bee-lan, Sung-i oo-jong, Pa-hang.

Fluctuations in the currency of the Straits Settlements have played no small part in the changes in the postal rates and in the postage stamps. So I give a reference table of the course of exchange from 1810-1912, adding only that from 1910 the dollar for all practical purposes has been fixed at 2s. 4d.
Course of Exchange