The AGM was held this evening and there were two changes made to the council.
Treasurer Robert Duguid intimated that he and his wife will be relocating South in the near future and that he would be relinquishing the post of Treasurer. Following nominations David Millar was appointed Treasurer.
Webmaster Norman Kelso also intimated that he wished to relinquish his post and Stephen Kennedy was duly elected as Webmaster following nominations.

This evening members and guests were delighted to be entertained by Michael Ellison from Aberdeen Philatelic Society with his presentation of "The Canal Zone of Panama" and this took place using ZOOM. Michael started this out as a railway collection as the stamps showed railways and this then became a subject for him. He calls this display '1904-1979 A Philatelic Journey'. Michael began by explaining the history of when the thought of a canal was conceived up until its official opening.

Michael explained that the Panama Railroad was the first Transcontinental Railroad in 1855, and this helped during the Gold Rush years. Ferdinand de Lesseps was responsible for building the Suez Canal and he set up and engineering company ti build the canal through Panama, but the company went bankrupt in 1889. On display were some share certificates from this time. The plan was for a sea level canal but this was too difficult due to the terrain. In 1904 the French gave up on their plan and the USA took over, building a deep cutting to get through the mountains.

Michael then proceeded to show the Canal Zone stamps depicting people involved in its build, as well as postcards showing trains and excavation workers who came from the West Indies. There were also overprints and postage due stamps on show, and sets issued to commemorate the opening of the Canal. Michael then showed stamps through the 1920's right up to the 1930's, 40s showing overprints, Air Mail stamps and covers, a lot of whom were issued to commemorate the opening.

Michael finished his display with the 1978 final issue by the Canal Zone, also showing a certificate for clearance to proceed through the canal.

This evening members welcomed Keith Burton FRPSL from Harrogate PS to provide a display of 'Fackellhauf: The Olympic Torch Run of the 1972 Olympic Games using ZOOM. Harry introduced Keith and mentioned that he is currently the editor of ABPS News.

Keith's display consisted of commemorative covers issued during the Olympic Torch run which began in Greece and finished in Munich, Germany passing through various countries such as Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Poland. At each stop in the Torch Run the town or city would produce a commemorative cover for the event. A number of the covers actually depicted a historical monument on the cover and Keith in his many travels managed to also show pictures taken on his travels showing the same monument today.

Nick explained that the title comes from their traditional display at which the audience is immersed in Brazilian culture & history to better understand the philately of the country. Brazil was discovered by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century and claimed as a colony. It became a kingdom in the early 19th century and after the defeat of Napoleon an independent kingdom in 1822 ruled by Dom Pedro I, son of the King of Portugal. It was soon renamed the Empire of Brazil, justified by its size and state structure. In 1889 a revolution backed by the army ended the monarchy and since then it has been a republic seeing periodic revolutions and military juntas. Today it is the Federative Republic of Brasil. (In 1897 the spelling officially became Brasil).

Philatelically, Brazil’s claim to fame is being the second county in the world to issue postage stamps. The first design was the famous Bull’s Eye and a number of different variants were shown. Janet & Nick focussed upon definitive issues because the number of stamps has to be fewer at a Zoom meeting and selecting these gives a flavour of the evolution of philately in the country. Under Dom Pedro the postal authority moved to more conventional designs with the King’s bust. When finances were better production was undertaken by the American Banknote Company and Waterlow & Sons, as well as domestically. The quality of printing was seen to improve. Perforation was introduced in a different way to everywhere else. Imperforate sheets were sold to customers who took these to perforating machines in the postal hall to perforate the sheets themselves. Within a short time, sheets became sold (pre)perforated. With a change in ruler, the emperor’s image was replaced by politicians (Presidents).

More thematic designs were selected in the post WW2 era. Some of these are very pleasing – others are not. There was sufficient time to see a selection of airmail covers. Airline companies produced stamps to apply to pay for air carriage in addition to normal post. There were a variety on display. Very interesting transatlantic flown covers were shown, which included mail flown to a tender in MidAtlantic at which the plane was refuelled and Zeppelin mail.

Gerald displayed the postal history of this breakaway state which seceded from the Congo a few weeks after independence from Belgium. The reasons for this were complex, being both internal and external. With the immediate collapse in law and order white people associated with the colonial era were threatened with violence which created a flight of refugees. In his first part, Gerald showed a selection of refugee telegrams and letters from and to Katanga, some via Rhodesia. There was a Belgian military presence at Kamina, a base just north of Elisabethville, and from there (refugee) military mail supplemented the civilian mail.

Gerald presented a table of postal rates and had been able to obtain examples of each on cover. This included the highest franking possibility, such as 120Fr for heavy, express, registered airmail letters (when the normal internal rate was just 1Fr50). Pre-independence colonial stamps, colonial stamps overprinted CONGO or KATANGA and others inscribed Katanga were all to be found on these covers. He noted that Katangese commemorative stamps were used but are difficult to find on cover. Letters had been sent to countries all over the world and some were marked “destination inaccessible”.

One envelope was notable, being from the Katanga President’s Office. It contained a letter personally signed by President Moise Tshombe.

Censorship took place with crude resealing. These are rare items and Gerald was lucky to find a collection of correspondence from M. Holland to Ruanda-Urundi. Not all letters sent to destinations outside the state were censored.

As a young collector, Gerald had assigned metered mail to the bin as was the practice of the time. Now he was a more enthusiast and showed envelopes with different meter marks, mostly from banks but there were some from small companies. (Several of these are the only known examples.)

Postal Stationery: Used examples overprinted Congo and used in the June – September period before the remaining colonial stock was overprinted Katanga. Katanga overprints, used as soon as they were available and after that new Katangese types printed just before the forcible reintegration into the Congo by UN military action.

Albertville, a town on the northern border is of particular interest. It was captured by the Congo army in December 1961. At first Katangese stamps remained in use, but very soon these were crudely overprinted CONGO in an attempt to obliterate the word Katanga. On cover they are extremely rare and it was a pleasure to see a collection of covers with a variety of frankings. Some of these had been censored by the Congo administration. Such were the chaotic conditions that it took some time for these overprinted stamps to be replaced with contemporary Congo stamps.

Meanwhile in Katanga, the postal service was operating comparatively normally with taxation of under-franked letters, illustrated by an attractive cover bearing Katanga overprinted colonial postage due stamps. But shortages were evident. At Kamina, when registration labels were exhausted hand written register numbers were applied before Elisabethville labels overprinted Kamina were obtained. To end his section on smaller towns the only known surviving example of metered mail from Kamina was shown.

Gerald’s display was a comprehensive and authoritative one of the postal history of Katanga during the 1960-1963 secession period. The covers shown were genuinely used examples in excellent condition. Many of these are very rare and a number unique.