issue no. 18 june 2016 -...

2 0° I 0’

Issue No. 18 – JUNE 2016

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MAURITIUS PHILATELIC SOCIETY

20° I0’

Issue No. 18 – June 2016 Contents Monthly Society Meetings ………………………………………………………………………………….……………..……….. 1

Operation Mars Observer …………………………………………….………………………………………..…………………… 5

Management Committee Meetings ………………………………..………………………………………………………….. 7

Stamp Programme 2016 & 2015 …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9

Definitive Stamps/Commemorative Stamps ....…..…………………....…………………………………………..…… 10

Philately in Independent Mauritius ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 13

To Err is Divine ……..……………………………………………….…………………………………….………………………..….. 19

Annual General Meeting 2016………………………………………………………………………..…………………………… 20

Accounts Schedules 2015 …….…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22

Central Flacq Post Office/”Post Office” News/Corrigendum/2016 Management Committee …….. 25

They Came to Mauritius …. David Livingstone 1813-1873 ……….……………………………………….…….…….. 26

David Livingstone Stamps …….…..………….……………………………………………………………………………….……. 27

International Anti-corruption Day/Society Meetings 2016/Update ……………………………………………. 28

The Metered Transition of a Bank ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 29

The Press and The Post ………………………………………………………………………….…………….….…………………. 30

Note that stamps and illustrations are not necessarily shown actual size.

OPERATION MARS OBSERVER - See page 5

20°I0’ is a publication of the Mauritius Philatelic Society Written and Edited by Mico W Antoine P.O. Box 89, Quatre Bornes, Mauritius www.mauritiusphilatelicsociety.com

[email protected] ©Mauritius Philatelic Society 2016

Note: The material contained in this publication has been compiled and collated in good faith for general information and no liability can be accepted for errors and omissions.

http://www.mauritiusphilatelicsociety.com/

mailto:[email protected]

20°I0’ – Newsletter of the Mauritius Philatelic Society – Issue No. 18 – June 2016 P a g e 1

MONTHLY SOCIETY MEETINGS

Five monthly society meetings were held as

scheduled and on time between January and June

2016. All the meetings were held at College du St

Esprit, Sir Virgil Naz Avenue, Quatre Bornes at 14:00

hours, one hour after the monthly management

committee meetings which are also held at the

same venue.

JANUARY

The society did not hold the usual members

monthly meeting during the first month of 2016.

The January interruption has now become a not

unusual tradition. Almost everyone in Mauritius

takes a break at the beginning of each year.

The management committee met on

23rd January 2016 at 13:00 hours at the residence of

the president at 3A La Louise Avenue, Quatre

Bornes. The affairs of the society for the whole of

2015 were reviewed. Proposals for the new year

were examined, the programme for 2016 was

discussed and the agenda of the first quarter

established.

Two important resolutions were taken; the

date of the annual general meeting was fixed for

5th March 2016 and it was decided that the society’s

website be managed, operated and developed from

Mauritius as soon as the transfer from Australia was

completed.

FEBRUARY

The first members monthly meeting of

2016 was held on 6th February. The convocations

dated 27th January 2016 were mailed from

L’escalier post office on the 26th. The agenda listed

three items; a review of 2015 stamps by

A N Maderbokus, postal history of 2015 and the

invitation to members to show their acquisitions

and additions to their collections during 2015.

A N Maderbokus castigated the postal

services for their dismal handling of the 2015

stamps programme. The four single stamps of the

four issues, the inclusion of the unprogrammed

Jeux des Iles event, the French-Mauritius joint ship

issue, the risk reduction disaster and the racks and

shelves archives stamps. The non compliance with

the listed cabinet approved November

anniversaries issue and the non issue of the

December Flora and Fauna set as well as not

respecting listed issue dates was staggering. 2015

has been the worst and poorest year since the

incorporation of Mauritius Post in so far as the

annual stamp programme was concerned

notwithstanding the release of a new printing of an

Indigenous Flowers Rs 7.00 stamp.

There was not much to show or talk about

the postal history of Mauritius either apart for a

couple of publicity handstamps. There was no

Mauritius Post annual newsletter available and

therefore not much to report on the performance

or non performance of the corporation in 2015.

A N Maderbokus showed some of his 2015

acquisitions which included a couple of bills of

lading, some B53 items, a 19th century packet letter

and some entires. S Mungra presented some

recently acquired historical postcards of Mauritius

and modern incoming registered covers from

Argentina, Italy and the UK all clearly struck with

postmarks of dispatching postal authorities and

received in Mauritius with poor Port

Louis/Mauritius datestamps on arrival.

Mico Antoine showed additional material

on the 300 years of débarquement des Français à

l’Ile Maurice stamps from French sources which

included the French pochette. He also presented a

range of metered covers on the banking sector.

(1) The South East Asian Bank and Bramer

Bank franking machine meter and the collapse,

mergers, take overs and whatever of the

“nationalised” Bramer Bank with the Mauritius Post

and Cooperative Bank, the name change to

National Commercial Bank and the consolidation

into Maubank with their various Neopost meter

franks were shown. The Mauritius Post and

Cooperative Bank in which Mauritius Post was the

main shareholder is no more and Mauritius Post at

the end of 2015 is effectively broke. The old Post

Office Savings Bank was never ever broke not even

after a run on the bank in 2004 when small savers

rushed to withdraw their meagre savings after an

impulsive government decision to close down the

Post Office Savings Bank and in the process damage

not only the bank but also the General Post Office

(1) See page 29


with politically inspired management appoint-

ments.

The first meeting of 2016 began rather well

with an attendance of 16 members and good sales

lists. Fine sweets and refreshments provided by

A N Maderbokus who missed the December 2015

meeting more than made amends for his absence.

MARCH

The annual general meeting was held on 5th

March. The convocation was posted from Britannia

post office on 24th February. The convocation listed

the items of the AGM agenda and nothing else. No

backdrop display was announced.

Four of the six display units however were

filled with a range of modern picture postcards of

Mauritius. After the completion of AGM business all

the members remained to view and to discuss the

display of special postcards. The fifth board was

used for recent commercial covers and one board

carried the accounts, budget and other AGM

schedules.

Most of the postcards which were mainly of

sets of special limited editions included the

following:

- A series of 8 Maison coloniale, peinture à

l’huile by Françoise Nozaïc.

- R. Temple’s early years of the British

occupation of Mauritius produced by the

Mauritius Museum Council from the

original watercolours in the Institute’s

collection.

- R. Temple’s scenes of Port Louis in sepia

from the MMC collection.

- L’APEIM, L’Association de parents d’enfants

inadaptés de l’Ile Maurice, fund raising

postcards of 19th century Mauritius by T.

Bradshaw, A. Richard and Sainson.

- Municipality of Curepipe’s centenary pack

of 20 sepia postcards produced in 1990 to

mark the occasion.

- The Post and Telegraph departments set of

four sepia postcards of post offices issued

in 1991.

- The Postal Services series of stamps on

postcards of the Trochetia, Model Ships

and Bicentenary of Mahebourg issues.

- The Mauritius Philatelic Society’s 1991 pair

of Joseph Osmond Barnard postcards.

- The April 2006 Chagos Archipelago “CRG

Historical visit to our motherland …” set of

10 postcards.

- The B.I.O.T. 2004 Birds definitive 12 stamps

postcard set.

- La Sentinelle Ltd one dozen set of Père Laval

postcards and other Père Laval postcards.

- Other single once only postcards such as

the Pope John Paul visit postcard and

aircraft postcards.

- And finally the souvenir postcards on

fauna, flora and paintings and other

material in the collection of the Mauritius

Museum Council sold only in their outlets.

No commercial picture postcard produced

for the tourist market were shown.

Many members collect the black and white

“historical picture postcards” of Mauritius of yester


years, several members collect more modern

special postcards and others collect both. The

backdrop display was appropriate for an AGM. No

presentation was necessary as members simply

gaped, gasped and asked questions.

Some of the more modern postcards of

Mauritius are much more difficult to find than older

classics – try to collect some of the moderns and

find out for yourselves.

After all AGM business was completed

board number 1 was cleared and a rather surprising

small collection of Mauritius cinderellas and

fantasies was affixed to the freed space. These

items included a couple of Lapirots, and Edward VII

King’s Head set of 9 stamps from 4 cents to

Rs 10.00, a George VI King’s Head definitive of 14

values, Queen Elizabeth II denominations of

Rs 20.00 and Rs 50.00 as well as QE II “Queen’s

Head” set of 10. There were also several unadopted

essays, overprints and perforation fantasies. Most

of our members had not seen this type of stuff

before and lots of questions were asked and

cinderellas and fantasies were explained.

18 members attended the annual general

meeting of 2016 – a very good turnout.

APRIL

The April meeting was held on the 2nd of the

month at 14:00 hours. The agenda listed three

items namely Postage Due/More to Pay, British

Indian Ocean Territory UK stamps and USA covers

and an aspect of Mauritius. The convocation was

posted to members on 24th March from Rivière du

Poste post office.

A full range of inland commercial covers

from August 2015 to March 2016 tracing the non

collection of the adjustment of fees on returned to

sender mail as well as other non compliance with

procedures for the correct application of correct

charges following the revision of postage rates on

1st August 2015 were shown. Mauritius Post

Instruction No 32/2015 of 7th August 2015 was

revisited and fully analysed (see 20o10’ No 17

December 2015). No incorrectly machine metered

franks nor Neopost digital impressions have been

seen after September 2015 however Rs 7.00

instead of Rs 10.00 inland letters continued to be

delivered without the insufficient postage being

collected before acceptance nor at delivery. Not a

single cover with actual “postage due” postage

stamps have yet been recorded since 1st August

2015. It stands therefore that no genuine postage

due covers affixed with “postage due” postage

stamps in compliance with Instruction No 32/2015

exist. Should any cover postmarked between

August 2015 and March 2016 turn up they will be of

very doubtful origin no matter how well they are

doctored.

All the listed stamps of B.I.O.T. from 1965

to 1976 and a selection of stamps from 1990 to

2015 were shown. USA-FPO, Diego Garcia,

philatelic covers serviced by the USPS carried from

and returned to Mauritius by the US Air Force and

philatelic and Official First Day Covers from B.I.O.T.

Post Office on the atoll were shown. The F.P.O.

cachets and datestamps were from 1974 to 2007

with the various designation changes and the

British covers mainly from the 1990s to more recent

times. Some of the philatelic covers were of

Mauritius Philatelic Society origin. Mico Antoine

gave a talk on the display.

An aspect of Mauritius was mostly about a

particular “Roland Garros” signed flown cover of

1937 and some postal history of the colonial period.

The society has come across a fair number of

“Roland Garros” covers and at least two members

in the room own between them over 20 of these

covers.

Another matter dealt with was the three

points raised by Valery Chavyrko of Russia, a friend

of the society, on the 40c on 75c value change local

overprint of 1993, the Rs 7.00 Indigenous Flowers

new printing of 9th June 2015 and the Independence

Street address on a 1965 cover.

A very good range of material were on offer

in the spot auction and three purchase lists. One list

was made up of 20 Official FDCs put on sale

exceptionally at the request of a particular

member. Cinderellas and fantasies of Mauritius

sold well.

MAY

The May meeting was held on Saturday

7th May and the convocations were posted from

Camp Diable post office on 27th April 2016. The

agenda was of two topics namely Aerophilatelic


stamps world wide and flown covers of Mauritius

and an aspect of Mauritius.

Derek Taylor presented a comprehensive

display of aerophilatelic flown covers of Mauritius,

pioneer flights, “Roland Garros” and “Raid Samat”

covers, 100th Anniversary of the Madagascar-

Reunion-Mauritius covers in both directions,

Imperial Airways GUBA and Qantas covers.

Commercial airline first flight covers to and from

Mauritius by Lufthansa, BOAC, Air France, South

African Airways, Air India, Swissair, Air Mauritius as

well as flown covers by private institutions and aero

clubs such as new aircraft delivery flights and US Air

Force flights. Other aero material include censored

WW II aerogrammes and early air mail covers,

modern aerogrammes, postcards and photographs

of Plaisance airport from 1945 to 2015 and the pilot

licence to fly “any kind of flying machine” of a family

member. Derek gave a fairly detailed account of his

aviation collection as well as anecdotes and insights

on his role in some aspects of the development of

civil aviation in Mauritius.

Mico Antoine helped out with an

arrangement of a modern worldwide range of

aircraft and aviation material and stamps such as

covers of several African countries, two Royal Air

Force (RAF) military aircraft series and some rather

special flown covers such as the Catovair Mauritius-

Rodrigues-Mauritius inaugural flight of

1st September 2005 and the 1992 USA “The Beast”

Operation Mars Observer flight cover signed by the

crew.

The four unit aerophilately display did not allow any

space for the aspect of Mauritius announced in the

agenda, this item was carried forward to another

occasion.

The notice board however was full of

philatelic news which included a new feature of the

society, the first “Quarterly Updates” of March

2016, the Hong Kong November 2015/31st Asian

International Stamp Exhibition/Certificate of

Award/Large Silver for the Mauritius Philatelic

Society 25th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine, news

reports on paralysis at Mauritius Post and pages

from the 2015 annal of Mauritius Post dated March

2016. The fancy financial evolution graphs and pie

charts on page 7 could not conceal the dire

financial state of the corporatised institution.

Also shown were a range of commercial

inland covers comfirming the hopelessness of the

unmanageable postmark problems of the postal

services, the inconsistency in Neopost digital users

identifications abbreviation and a UK to Mauritius

“Missent to Jamaica” airmail postcard which posted

on 4th April arrived at destination on 2nd May 2016.

The auction offered 22 lots and the two

purchase lists a total of 40 items.


A low turnout, an exceptional display of a

popular subject, excellent sales on a fine day and

the horse racing in full swing, is what the May

meeting was about.

OPERATION MARS OBSERVER

USAF Advanced Range Instrumental Aircraft (ARIA) modified

EC18B (Boeing 707) based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Ohio

arrived at SSR International Airport Mauritius on Tuesday

22nd September 1992.

On Friday 25th September, the aircraft nicknamed "The

Beast” monitored the flight of “Mars Observer” launched that day

from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The ARIA took off from SSRI Airport at

17.30 hrs for a point approximately 200 miles south of Madagascar

and returned on Saturday at 00.40 hrs (26/9/92).

During the flight of 7 hours and 10 minutes, the aircraft accomplished its mission of observation and

transmission of data of the launch of “Mars Observer”. 12 covers were carried on the flight by John GIESEKE of

the U.S Embassy of Mauritius and were signed by five members of the mission. They were: Leon SHAFER -

mission command, Doc HANKINS - mission surgeon, John SHREVE, Ed BELLUM and John HAMBEL, mission

specialists.

The covers are postmarked at SSR international Airport 3 PM 25 SP 92 and are embossed with the seal of the

Embassy of the United States Port Louis Mauritius. “The Beast” left Mauritius on 27th September 1992.

W.M.A

See Contents page

ARIA modified EC18B at SSR International Airport, Plaisance, Mauritius

JUNE

The June meeting was held on the 4th of the

month at 14:00 hours. The convocation posted

from Camp Diable on 27th April together with May

convocation, mentioned an audio and video

presentation on Mauritian philately and the 1994

“Mammals of Mauritius – the story behind the

stamps”. The audio and video item was rescheduled

for August and the second item was enlarged to

accommodate the story behind the “250th

Anniversary of the wreck of St Geran” 1994 and the

“150th Anniversary of the Mauritius Chamber of

Commerce and Industry (MCCI) 2000


commemoratives.The reason for the rescheduling

was the publication by Weekend of three important

philatelic articles during May. These were the David

Livingstone visit to Mauritius titled “Le séjour de

l’explorateur écossais David Livingstone à Maurice

en 1856” on 1st May 2016 and “Le cas du Mauritius

Post Office” in two parts on 8th and 29th May.

The society highly recommends that our

members, friends and readers make the effort to

consult these articles for their own philatelic and

historical enhancement.

The rather long first part of the “Post

Office” two page “case” is about the two most

famous stamps in the world. No sourced

bibliographic acknowledgements are made yet

postal historians and writers such as Peter

Ibbotson, Arnold Rudge, Helen Morgan and others

have sifted through lots of guesswork and

suppositions. They have firmly establish fact from

fiction. It is however Georges Brunel engaged by a

stamp dealer to write up the “Post Office” stamps

who is quoted at length. He gave full vent to his

fertile mind on imagined blunders and twisted

second-hand information from unreliable

Mauritian sources to satisfy his fantasies. His

sensational exaggerations were not unlike that of a

contemporary local scribe’s recent rantings.

Equally long Part II is about the “Post

Office” to “Post Paid” change. Once again no

bibliographic acknowledgement but for a long

extract from one of those local experts, Christian Le

Conte. The supposed correction of the “historic

error” argument and the “preeminence” of the

French “Bordeaux Cover” without any reference to

the indian “Bombay Cover” are some of the bias

that characterises the two articles. The “Bombay

Cover” is the cover that was dubbed “the crown

jewel of philately” before any other

Commonwealth philatelic item and not the

“Bordeaux cover”. There is absolutely nothing new

or original in these articles about the first primitive

classics of Mauritius.

Emmanuel Richon, curator of the Blue

Penny Museum, simply repeats what has been

written by others. The only merit of the “Post

Office” articles is that they were published in

French for a fairly naïve postal history readership.

Those who know, know better!

Photographs of “Paul’s buckle” and “Virginie’s thimble” found at the site of the wreck

Photographs from which the Mammals Rs 10.00 stamp was drawn


The story behind the three sets of stamps

was about the stamps themselves and the

reference material used for the preparation of the

artwork by professional stamp designers abroad in

two cases and by a local graphic artist in one case.

The mammals set was drawn from actual

photographs of the animals. The wreck of the Saint

Geran Rs 10.00 stamp was designed from

photographs of “Virginie’s thimble” and “Paul’s

buckle”. The ship’s bell was from a photograph of

the Mauritius Museum Council. The ship leaving

Lorient was from the photograph of a painting

provided by a museum in St Malo France and the

ship in a storm from a woodcut print. The Mauritius

Chamber of Commerce and Industry set was

designed locally by Hans Offman to the

specification of the MCCI. The then president and

secretary general of the MCCI are today members

of the Mauritius Philatelic Society. Between 1993

and 1996 the editor was involved in all decisions

taken by the government ministry responsible for

the postal services in matters regarding the official

postage stamps and philatelic policy of Mauritius.

That was then – today is now!

The turnout for the June meeting was

rather low at 14 even if sales which included some

Mauritius cinderellas and fantasies were good.

Proposed unadopted design Adopted design

* * * * *

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

MEETINGS

Management committee meetings are held

once a month on the first Saturday of the month at

13:00 hours at College du St Esprit, Sir Virgil Naz

Avenue, Quatre Bornes except for the month of

January when the meetings are held mostly at the

residence of the president in La Louise.

The management committee is made up of

nine members and the attendance of five members

out of nine committee members constitutes the

quorum. The quorum was assured by the presence

of 6, 7, 8, 6, 6, 8 at the six meetings between

January and June 2016.

Mauritius Philatelic Society Forthright Reliable

23rd JANUARY 2016

The minutes of 5th December 2015 were

approved on a proposition of Alain Louis

seconded by Arnaud Guibert.

The 5th December 2015 members meeting

was reviewed.

The Annual General Meeting was fixed for

5th March 2016.

The transfer of e-files from Australia to

Mauritius have been completed and the

data is being scrutinized and updated.

S Mungra and A Guibert were designated as

joint managers of the website.

The society’s Mauritius e-mail address has

been registered and will be incorporated in

the letterhead.

The draft of newsletter 20o10’ No. 16 was

shown. It will be issued late due to a

complete review and reformat.


The February 2016 members meeting

agenda was fixed.

The case of a non-member’s presence at

successive recent meetings was raised.

The six committee members at the meeting

agreed to stand for election at the March

AGM.

6th FEBRUARY 2016

The minutes of 23rd January were approved

on a proposition of Jean Auguste seconded

by Mico Antoine.

Preparation for the Annual General

Meeting of 5th March 2016 were discussed

in depth. Drafts of the budget, accounts,

membership list, the press notice and the

agenda were examined. Other related

matters were assessed.

Committee members were requested to, at

the very least, answer their “missed calls”

from other committee members as well as

from “unknown” members. There have

been complaints.

The society’s website transfer was

evaluated and it was reported that as from

1st April 2016 all business will be conducted

exclusively from Mauritius.

5th MARCH 2016

The minutes of meeting of 6th February

were approved on a proposition of

A N Maderbokus seconded by T Dieudonné.

The February members meeting was

assessed.

The president and the secretary advised

that everything was ready for holding the

Annual General Meeting.

The president and the secretary were

designated to meet the Port Louis City

Council librarian to discuss the future of the

stamp club.

One individual and two institutions were

proposed as guests of the society during

the second half of 2016.

The suggestion that selected articles

published during the last 25 years by the

society be reviewed and revised for

publication in future newsletters was

examined.

A progress report of the work on the

website was made.

The new quarterly update project was

given the go ahead. The four annual

updates will only be available on the

website as from April 2016.

2nd APRIL 2016

The minutes of 5th March were approved

on a proposition of S Mungra seconded by

A Guibert.

A report on the 2016 Annual General

Meeting was discussed. All went well, all

business were carried out, all returns have

been filed or lodged with the appropriate

authorities within the prescribed dates. A

supporting display by A N Maderbokus and

M Antoine served as a backdrop to the

AGM.

The president and the secretary met with

the librarian of the Port Louis Municipal

Council on 18th March. A further meeting

was proposed before the end of May.

The May and June 2016 members meeting

agendas were fixed.

The e-mail and website address were now

on all the society’s documents.

The No. 1 Quarterly Update and the No. 16

20o10’ were under control.

No decisions were taken with regard to

guest speakers.

The auditor was presented with a copy of

the Society’s 25th Anniversary Souvenir

Magazine.

The membership position was discussed.

7th MAY 2016

The minutes of 2nd April were approved on

a proposition of Alain Louis seconded by

A. Guibert.

A report on the April meeting was

considered.

The attendance at the February, March

and April meetings averaged 16 members

per meeting. The topics and displays were

of a high standard with material of good

quality offered for sale.


It was noted that no new members joined

the society between January and April

2016.

PayPal payment arrangements were

approved.

The disposal of a collection of Official First

Day Covers by a member was studied and

it was decided that no special priviledge

would be extended to the vendor.

A meeting of the Port Louis Municipality

Stamp Club was fixed for 28th May 2016 at

the Freddy Desvaux Polyvalent Centre at

Cassis.

The decision on a guest speaker was

deferred.

4th JUNE 2016

The minutes of meeting of 7th May 2016

was approved on a proposal of Jean

Auguste seconded by Alain Louis.

The May meeting display by Derek Taylor

on Mauritian Aerophilately was of the

highest standard.

The July topic by Alain Louis on digital

frankings was approved. A video show was

scheduled for August and a guest speaker

for September was subject to confirmation.

October and November themes were left

open. The December Agenda to be the

usual overview of 2016 and members

hobbies other than philately. The holding of

six members meetings for the second half

of 2016 was confirmed.

A website and e-mail utilization report was

scrutinized.

The 28th May meeting of some 30 children

and 3 minders of the Port Louis

Municipality Stamp Club was held as

scheduled.

The June 2015 No. 16 20o10’ was

programmed for distribution in July 2016

almost one year later than planned.

A N Maderbokus offered to order 12 SG

Indian Ocean catalogues, 3rd Edition 2016,

on behalf of the members.

Noëllie Chang Kai On was admitted as a

member of the society and the presence of

the non member raised in January resolved.

STAMP PROGRAMME 2016

The 8th item of the Cabinet decision of

25th March 2016 approved the issue of postage

stamps of Mauritius for the year as follows:

(a) Fresh Water Fauna in Mauritius

(b) Endorsement of the Sustainable Development

Goals

(c) Maritime Air Squadron (New Dornier Aircraft)

(d) Nature Walks

(e) Fresh Water Flora in Mauritius

(f) World Diabetes Day

Mauritius Post subsequently posted the

decision on its website, as is, without any additional

data such as themes, number of stamps per issue,

date of release and other details. No Mauritius Post

2016 “Stamp Programme” was produced nor

available from the Philatelic Bureau as official

letterheaded handouts.

STAMP PROGRAMME 2015

The stamp programme listed four “themes”

for the year 2015 as follows:

(i) Natural Disaster (ii) Historical Events

(iii) Anniversaries (iv) Fauna and Flora. Only two and

a half out of the four “themes” were eventually

issued. One of the two listed Anniversaries stamp to

mark the 100th Birth Anniversary of Joseph Guy

Rozemont scheduled for November 2015 and the

whole of the Flora and Fresh Water Fauna set

scheduled for December 2015 were not produced.

These “two themes” (iii, iv) were proposed by the

S.A.C. (Stamp Advisory Committee) in 2014. Either

Cabinet decisions in Mauritius are worth what they

are worth or nothing really works any more. Only

four commemorative stamps were issued in 2015.

Mauritius Philatelic Society

1989 – 2016 Over 27 years of Mauritian philatelic

history


DEFINITIVE STAMPS

Three new printings of the 2009 Indigenous

Flowers of Mauritius definitive stamps were printed

in 2016 and released in Mauritius during the month

of May on the following dates:

Rs 3.00 Myonima obovata 31st May 2016

Rs 8.00 Distephanus populifolius 24th May 2016

Rs 25.00 Roussea simplex 24th May 2016

The three new stamps are imprinted with

the year 2016 in the bottom stamp margin.

The Rs 3.00 denomination pays the little

used C.O.P. (Certificate of Posting) fee, the Rs 8.00

stamp pays the charges for the overseas surface

mail 20 gms letter rate to India and the Rs 25.00

value will be affixed to copies of birth certificates as

a fiscal charge.

Mauritius Post has long ago lost its way in

controlling its stamp issuing and usage policy.

Definitive stamps are no longer stamps issued for

use over a long period for regular postage unlike a

commemorative stamp. In Mauritius today

commemorative stamps are produced in

disproportionately large quantities with all kinds of

unrelated to postal charges denominations

whereas definitives are hardly produced for

meeting regular usage.

The Rs 10.00 denomination of the original

definitive printing has never been printed anew nor

a new denomination of Rs 27.00 stamp to meet the

standard inland letter registered rate. With the

abysmal low stocks of definitives from 2009 to 2015

these stamps are no longer supplied to post offices

in Mauritius. Mauritius Post has turned everything

upside down by operating almost exclusively with

commemorative stamps. The whole system has

broken down.

COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

A single stamp was issued on 9th May 2016

to mark the formal adoption of the 17 sustainable

development goals of the United Nations 15 years

agenda for the period 2015-2030 – taken on the

25th September 2015.

The stamp incorporates the title of the

occasion and the United Nations logo against a

plain white background. It was released to coincide

with the visit of the Secretary General of the UN Ban

Ki-moon to Mauritius.

The technical details:

Graphic works : Mauritius Post

Denomination : Rs 27.00

Format : Landscape (horizontal)

Stamp size : 44.45 x 29.94 mm

Printer : BDT International Security Printing Ltd

Printing process : Lithography

Watermark : w18


Sheet format : Two panes of 25 stamps separated

by a central gutter

Perforation : 14

The front of the folded data card or insert is

headed Together for Sustainable Development –

Mauritius UN Office with a People / Planet /

Prosperity / Partnership / Peace logo and a short

write up. Details of the 17 point goals clutter the

whole of the inner surface of the unfolded card in

small print. The technical details and the UN logo

are found on the backside of the card.

The Official First Day Cover is over

illustrated with 17 graphic symbols of the UN goals

and a quote from the Secretary General - much

more colourful than the stamp!

The unimaginative stamp is cancelled with

the 27 mm double circle circular First Day of Issue /

Mauritius datestamp at 8:15 AM on 9th May 2016

(8:15AM / 9 MY / 16). A United Nations / Mauritius

logo is found in the right bottom corner of the

OFDC. No other cachet, cancelling nothing, is

applied to the cover. The logo of Mauritius Post is

imprinted on the gumless back flap.

The denomination Rs 27.00 is the standard

inland combined postage (Rs 10.00) and register fee

(Rs 17.00). The stamp should at the very least

propagate the UN goals message within Mauritius

as the Rs 27.00 value is the second most extensively

utilized rate after the inland letter rate of Rs 10.00.

The OFDC priced at Rs 70.00 went on sale in

Mauritius as from 9th May 2016.

FRESHWATER FAUNA

Scheduled for December 2015 as “Flora and

Fresh Water Fauna” the Freshwater Fauna set of

four stamps were released on 6th June 2016.

The stamps feature respectively

Re 1.00 Giant Mottled Eel / Anguilla

marmorata

Rs 10.00 Water Scorpion / Laccotrephes

annulipes

Rs 18.00 Nile Tilapia / Oreochromis niloticus

Rs 32.00 Freshwater Shrimp /

Macrobrachium lar

The technical details are :

Graphic works : Mauritius Post

Format : Landscape (horizontal)

Stamp size : 44.45 x 29.94 mm

Printer : BDT International Security Printing Ltd


Printing process : Lithography

Watermark : w18

Sheet format : Two panes of 25 separated by

a central gutter

Perforation : 14

The folded data card contains relevant

information on the four species with appropriate

acknowledgements.

The Official First Day Cover is illustrated

with the photograph of a local waterway. The four

stamps are affixed to the right of the cover. The

stamps are cancelled with a single strike of the

standard 27 mm First Day of Issue / Mauritius

double circle circular datestamp at 8:15 AM on 6th

June 2016 (8:15AM / 6 JU / 16). A superfluous

double ringed special cachet measuring 30 mm and

reading Freshwater Fauna / Mauritius Post within

the inner circle and the date 06 June / 2016 in two

lines is struck in the centre of the cover between

the stamps and the illustration cancelling nothing.

The logo of Mauritius Post is imprinted on the

gumless back flap.

The Official First Day Cover went on sale at

Rs 120.00 per unit in Mauritius on Monday 6th June

2016.

The Re 1 denomination is a fractional value

which will be seen on mail where needed to round

off a rated charge. The stamp has been recorded on

a Certificate of Posting (C.O.P.) of Rs 3.00 in other

words 3 x Re 1 stamps to pay a small fee instead of

a single Rs 3.00 stamp from the Indigenous Flowers

definitive set.

Rs 10.00 stamps will be used extensively to

pay the standard inland letter rate.

The Rs 18.00 denomination will be seen

almost exclusively on overseas airmail postcards

(size 105 mm x 148 mm) only and very rarely as an

additional stamp to make up a specific rate.

Rs 32.00 stamps will be rarely seen used on

inland mail, most of these stamps will be used on

mail destined for overseas destinations.

Visit the Society website for the Quarterly Updates

March – June – September - December


PHILATELY IN INDEPENDENT MAURITIUS

A. Jean-Claude Montocchio

FIFTY YEARS OF LOCAL MANAGEMENT: AN

ASSESSMENT (I)

Before departing from Mauritius in 1968, the

British gradually bequeathed to the Mauritian

authorities the fairly highly efficient administrative

institutions and services in the different fields that they

had been in charge of until then. Fifty years of decision-

making responsibilities later, the record of that legacy

is mixed. Certain areas – such as telecommunications

– have made strong progress, whereas others – water

supply – have not moved forward at all, and still others

have declined. Among the latter areas, one finds the

management of Mauritian philately.

In all fairness to those entrusted in 1968 with

the responsibility to get this sector to keep

progressing, one must say that the British left behind

them a record of strong reputation for our philately at

international level. Since 1859, the stamps and other

philatelic items issued in Mauritius had generally been

ordered, designed, printed and forwarded through the

Crown Agents, whose representatives outsourced

their design and production to competent

professionals in Britain. This reputation was founded

to a large extent on the "Post Office" initiative of 1847:

on their own, the two stamps issued that same year

conferred a second to none dimension to ensuing

issues of stamps and various philatelic items of

Mauritius that came out until independence.

Thus, for nearly 110

years, Mauritius boasted fine

series of stamps and postal

stationery. Those were no

doubt of the very classical

type, but they were all the

same free from errors and

slippages in terms of graphics

and spelling except for the 20

cents of George VI series of 1950 for which the name

“Virginie” was spelt as “Virginia”.

At the time of independence, the country was

entrusted with the strong responsibility of maintaining

and perpetuating this flagship of our colonial period.

All in all, it has fared relatively well, at least until the

middle of the first 2000 decade. Rather unfortunately

BILAN DE 50 ANS DE GESTION

MAURICIENNE (I)

Avant même leur départ de Maurice en 1968,

les Britanniques nous avaient graduellement légué des

services administratifs performants dans les différents

domaines dont ils avaient la charge jusqu’alors.

Cinquante ans de prise de responsabilités plus tard, le

bilan de cet héritage est mitigé. Certains domaines –

tels les télécommunications – ont progressé

fortement, certains autres – tel la fourniture d’eau –

sont toujours strictement au même point, et d’autres

encore ont régressé. Parmi ces derniers, on trouve la

gestion de la philatélie de Maurice.

À la décharge de ceux à qui a été confiée la

responsabilité de faire avancer ce secteur en 1968, il

faut reconnaître que les Britanniques nous avaient

laissé un dossier de forte renommée internationale.

Les timbres et autres objets philatéliques émis à

Maurice étaient généralement commandés, conçus,

imprimés et expédiés à travers les « Crown Agents »,

qui eux-mêmes en confiaient le design et la production

à de véritables professionnels en Grande-Bretagne.

Cette renommée avait été bâtie sur dans une mesure

appréciable sur l’initiative relative aux « Post Office »

de 1847 : à eux seuls, les deux timbres émis cette

année-là ont conféré une dimension hors pair aux

timbres et aux divers objets philatéliques de Maurice

jusqu’à l’indépendance.

Ainsi, pendant près de 110 ans, l’île Maurice

s’est enorgueillie de belles séries de timbres et

d’éléments de papeterie postale, très classiques

certes, mais dépourvus d’erreurs et de lapsus à

caractère graphique et orthographique à l’exception

du timbre de 20 sous de l’émission « George VI » de

1950, dans lequel le nom « Virginie » a été mal

orthographié en « Virginia ».

Au moment de l’indépendance, le pays héritait

donc d’une forte responsabilité en matière de

maintien et de perpétuation de ce fleuron de notre

patrimoine. Si, dans l’ensemble, le pays s’en est

relativement bien tiré, du moins jusqu’au milieu des

années 2000, un nombre relativement élevé d’erreurs

et de manquements, parfois grossiers, dans la gestion


however, several errors and failures – some of them

quite significant – in design, printing and management

have marred the consistency of initiatives and have

abated the overall level of the collection's standing.

Let it be said bluntly: the unspoken and the

politically correct language that prevails in Mauritius,

the weakness of knowledge in some fields and lack of

a critical mind among so many Mauritians often

provide an opportunity to some of the island’s officials

to obviate - either voluntarily or not - the obligation to

fulfill their obligations to the best of their abilities, and

shortcomings follow...

This is a first text in a series of three articles

that we shall be devoting to the management of

Mauritian philately since independence. Our intention

is to identify failures, omissions, blunders and the lack

of professionalism that have characterized the

management of local philately over the last fifty years.

Our island’s philatelic history will benefit.

This first text is geared mainly towards the errors

that have cropped up along the years in the design,

illustration, description and printing of stamp issues

since 1968. While some of those errors may already be

known to some philatelists, others have been

identified through our research in the field. We also

draw the attention of readers to what appears as a

blatant failure of the Mauritian postal authorities to

respect rights of reproduction on the occasion of a

stamps issue that took place in August 2010.

1. Issue of 5 stamps on 2 July 1976. Theme:

Mail Carriers to Mauritius

Among the five vessels that are illustrated is the

‘Pierre Loti’ (SG 501). She was indeed owned by the

"Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes", but never

actually came to Mauritius. Her overall length is

shorter than the one of the vessel with the same name

that served Mauritius as from 1953, and her funnel

(painted in red and black) is different from the ones of

the four vessels, also run by the Messageries

Maritimes, that called at Mauritius after WWII until

1970.

The vessel that appears on the stamp was in

fact commissioned by the Russian Navigation and

Trade Company and built at the John Brown shipyard

of Clydebank, in Britain, in 1913. She was named

'IMPERATOR NICOLAS I'. Requisitioned by the Russian

Navy in early 1915, she was used for the transport of

de l’activité ont contribué à porter atteinte à

l’homogénéité des initiatives et des résultats qui y ont

prévalu.

Disons-le franchement : l’habitude du non-dit et

du politiquement correct qui prévaut à Maurice, le

faible niveau des connaissances dans certains

domaines et l’esprit critique défaillant dans l’île

permettent souvent à certains responsables de

l’administration d’obvier – volontairement ou pas – à

leurs obligations, sans en subir les conséquences qui

s’ensuivent.

Voici le premier d’une série d’articles que nous

allons consacrer à la gestion de la philatélie

mauricienne depuis l’indépendance. L’intention sera

de procéder à un relevé aussi précis et complet que

possible des défaillances, des omissions, des

égarements et du manque de professionnalisme qui

ont caractérisé l’activité des responsables de ce

secteur de l’administration au cours des cinquante

dernières années. L’histoire de la philatélie de Maurice

en bénéficiera.

Ce premier texte se limite essentiellement à un

listing des erreurs que nous avons notées dans

l’illustration de certains thèmes ayant fait l’objet d’une

impression et d’une émission de timbres depuis 1968.

Si certaines de ces erreurs sont déjà connues des

philatélistes, nous en communiquons d’autres qui sont

le fruit de nos recherches. Nous signalons aussi, en fin

de texte, ce qui apparaît comme une grossière

omission de l’administration postale en matière de

respect de droits de reproduction lors d’une émission

de timbres intervenue en août 2010.

1. Émission de 5 timbres le 2 juillet 1976.

Thème : Mail Carriers to Mauritius

Parmi les cinq navires illustrés dans cette série

figure le « Pierre Loti » (SG 501). Ce Pierre Loti a bien

appartenu à la Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes,

mais il n’est jamais venu à Maurice. Il est moins long

que celui qui a desservi Maurice à partir de 1953, et sa

cheminée (peinte en rouge et noir) ne ressemble en

aucune façon à celle des quatre navires de cette

compagnie qui venaient régulièrement à Maurice

jusqu’en 1970.

Le paquebot mixte qui paraît sur le timbre a en fait

été construit en 1913 par les Chantiers John Brown à

Clydebank en Grande-Bretagne pour le compte de la

Compagnie russe de Navigation et de Commerce et a


army equipment by the Red forces, but was disarmed

afterwards until her seizure by the French in December

1918. Taking back her name of EMPEREUR NICOLAS I,

she was used for 2 years by the French Government.

Handed over in 1921 to the Messageries Maritimes,

whose representatives gave her the name of ‘PIERRE

LOTI’, she plied mainly between Mediterranean ports.

She was used until 1942, when she ran aground in the

estuary of Gabon (12 December).

The ‘Pierre Loti’ vessel of the Messageries

Maritimes that served Mauritius was built in 1951 at

and the Lorient shipyard in France. Her funnel was

identical to the one of three other ships that called at

South-Western Indian Ocean ports after the Second

World War (see below).

At left: the first ‘Pierre Loti’ with its red and black funnel.

At right: the short, black, stocky and rounded funnel, struck

with the 'M. M' emblem of the Messageries Maritimes

vessels that served Mauritius until 1970.

2. Celebration of Namibia Day – Issue of 26

August 1983

In the design of this stamp, the country located to

the northeast of Namibia was wrongly given the name

of Angola, and the one due north of it the name of

Zambia. The opposite would be correct.

This blatant error calls for at least one observation: did

Mauritian officials – either the postal administration

management team or the members of the Stamp

Advisory Committee, or both – have the opportunity at

the time to receive pre-print proofs of the issue that

was to follow, and did they give their assent thereon?

If so, and in retrospect, their lack of rigour is quite

despairing. And if one argues that they were not given

access to the proofs, then it appears obvious that they

should have insisted upon enjoying such access and

using their decisional prerogatives.

été appelé IMPERATOR NICOLAS I. Réquisitionné par la

marine russe au début de 1915, il a servi au transport

de matériel pour le compte de l’Armée rouge, puis a

été désarmé jusqu’à sa prise par les Français en

décembre 1918. Reprenant son nom d’EMPEREUR

NICOLAS I, il a été utilisé pendant 2 ans par le

gouvernement français. Remis en 1921 aux

Messageries Maritimes qui l’ont baptisé PIERRE LOTI, il

a circulé surtout entre les ports de la Méditerranée. Il

a été exploité jusqu’en 1942, année où il s’est échoué

dans l’estuaire du Gabon (le 12 décembre).

Le « Pierre Loti » des Messageries Maritimes qui a

desservi Maurice a été construit en 1951 à Lorient. Sa

cheminée est identique à celles des trois autres navires

qui ont desservi l’océan Indien après la Seconde

Guerre mondiale (voir ci-dessous).

A gauche: le premier « Pierre Loti » et sa cheminée rouge

et noire. A droite: la cheminée courte, noire, ramassée et

arrondie, frappée de l’emblème ‘M. M’, des navires ayant

desservi Maurice jusqu’en 1970.

2. Célébration du Namibia Day – 26 août 1983

Dans le dessin de ce timbre,

l’Angola a été situé au Nord-Est de

la Namibie, et la Zambie au nord de

celle-ci, alors que c’est l’inverse qui

correspond à la réalité.

Cette erreur grossière appelle

au moins une remarque : les

officiels mauriciens – soit

l’administration postale et les

membres du Stamp Advisory Committee – avaient-ils

la possibilité à l’époque de recevoir des épreuves des

tirages prévus et de leur octroyer leur aval ? Le cas

échéant et en rétrospective, leur manque de rigueur

est assez désespérant. Et s’ils n’ont pas eu un accès à

ces épreuves, peut-être auraient-ils dû insister pour

l’avoir.


3. The "Anniversaries and Events" issues of 4th.

and 27th. December 2007

This blatant error is now well known in philatelic

circles and is even starting to push up the price of the

stamps with the "Osman" surname and photo that

were inappropriately issued in early December 2007. It

obviates the need to revisit this slippage and elaborate

upon it.

One still needs to point out that such a confusion

on the identity of a local personality illustrates a deep

and unacceptable easy-going attitude towards our

philately’s standing: indeed, family members of the

personality whom the postal authorities wished to

honour were certainly within easy reach on the island

at the time, and they would have been able, without

any doubt whatsoever, to provide the necessary

details on the personality, and proceeding thus would

have avoided the mess that resulted.

This error was compounded by the fact that some

subscribers to the stamps services of the Philatelic

Bureau of Mauritius (among them foreign subscribers)

received their first day cover(s) with the “Osman”

stamp issued on 4th. December 2007 (removed a few

days later), while others had to wait until after 27th.

December 2007 to receive their FDC(s) after the

replacement stamp was hastily printed. Thus, not all

subscribers received the same treatment, and those

having received the initial issue with the wrong stamp

did not receive any replacement. This event did little

for the reputation of Mauritian philately at

international level.

4. Al-Idrissi, Arab geographer and cartographer

– Issue of 5th. August 2010

The image used for

this issue is not the one of

Al-Idrissi, but of

philosopher Avicenna. The

latter, born in Bukhara in

Uzbekistan in a Persian

family, is generally

considered as the father of

medicine. He was neither

Muslim nor Arab. And his

name has been given to

some hospitals in Europe.

3. « Anniversaries and Events » – 4 décembre et

27 décembre 2007

Cette autre grossière erreur est maintenant bien

connue dans le monde philatélique et commence

même à faire grimper le prix du timbre avec le

patronyme «Osman » inapproprié émis au début de

décembre 2007. Elle nous dispense de la nécessité de

revenir sur ce lapsus pour l’expliciter.

Il est toutefois incompréhensible qu’une confusion

de ce type, relative à une personnalité locale ayant

vécu au milieu du XXe siècle, ait eu lieu, les membres

de sa famille étant certainement joignables dans l’île

pour fournir les précisions à son propos, ce qui aurait

permis d’éviter le cafouillage auquel elle a donné lieu.

Cette erreur a été aggravée par le fait que certains

abonnés aux émissions du Bureau philatélique de

Maurice (dont certains à l’étranger) ont reçu leur(s)

pli(s) premier jour avec le timbre erroné, alors que

d’autres ont dû attendre la réimpression d’un nouveau

timbre et sa diffusion à partir du 27 décembre 2007

pour obtenir le(s) leur(s). L’image de l’île Maurice à

l’international n’est pas sortie grandie de cette

épreuve.

4. Al-Idrissi, géographe et cartographe arabe –

5 août 2010

L’image utilisée pour cette

émission n’est pas celle

d’Al-Idrissi, mais du

philosophe Avicenne. Ce

dernier, né à Boukhara dans

l’Ouzbékistan d’une famille

perse, est généralement

considéré comme le père de la

médecine. Il n’était ni

musulman, ni arabe. Et son

nom a été donné à certains

hôpitaux en Europe.

Avicenne Al-Idrissi


Al-Idrissi was born in Ceuta, Spain, in the 12th

century. He was an Andalusian geographer who

worked at the court of the Norman kings of Sicily and

built his reputation on the carving, for the account of

Sicilian King Roger II, of a globe made from silver and

especially on the drafting of a text – his masterpiece –

with comments on that same globe.

His world atlas, which was very accurate for the

period when he lived, clearly displays the three

Mascarene Islands in the South-Western Indian Ocean.

5. Joint France-Mauritius issue of 25 September

2015

We have dealt with this issue in a detailed manner

in an article published in a local weekly (part of the

article was censored and removed, against our wish).

As a reminder, this issue came with its own

disappointments: on the stamp, Dufresne d'Arsel's

vessel is shown approaching Tamarin Bay and not Port-

Louis, and the text appearing on the

stamp is in English, whereas the one

issued simultaneously in France was

in French. It gives the impression

that the official language of

Mauritius is English, which is not the

case (see the text of the

Constitution of Mauritius).

6. Naval Battle of Grand-Port - Issue of 28th.

August 2010

We would like to conclude with an omission,

and not an error, on the part of the postal

administration of Mauritius. It relates to the

commemoration of the bicentennial of the battle of

Grand-Port. As both local and foreign philatelists will

recall, the two stamps issued on that occasion were the

following:

De son côté, Al-Idrissi est né à Ceuta, en

Espagne au XIIe siècle. Ce géographe andalou a

travaillé à la cour des rois normands de Sicile et a bâti

sa grande réputation sur la réalisation, pour le compte

du roi Roger II de l’île, d’un globe en argent et surtout

d’un livre de géographie – sa pièce maîtresse –

commentant ce globe. Son atlas du monde, très précis

pour son époque, indique clairement les trois îles des

Mascareignes.

5. Émission conjointe France-Maurice du 25

septembre 2015

Nous avons parlé en détail de cette émission dans

un article publié dans un hebdomadaire local (dont une

partie a été retranchée contre notre gré). Pour rappel,

cette émission a été décevante : le navire de Dufresne

d’Arsel se dirige vers la baie de Tamarin et non pas vers

Port-Louis, et le texte paraissant sur le timbre est en

anglais, alors que celui paru

simultanément en France est en

français. Il donne l’impression que

la langue officielle de Maurice est

l’anglais, ce qui n’est pas le cas (voir

le texte de la Constitution de

Maurice).

6. Combat du Grand-Port – Émission du 28 août

2010

Nous voudrions terminer en signalant non pas une

erreur mais une omission de la part de l’administration

postale de Maurice, relative à la célébration du

bicentenaire du combat de Grand-Port. Comme se

souviendront ceux qui s’intéressent à la philatélie de

Maurice, tant dans l’île qu’à l’étranger, les timbres

émis à cette occasion étaient les suivants :


The one with the 14 rupees denomination was

processed from a photograph of the lower left part of

a painting by French artist Julien Gilbert, the original of

which belongs to the National Naval Museum in Paris.

When one looks closely at the image that appears on

the stamp and compares it with the original painting,

one can see that it is less clear than the original, and

one can deduce that the photo used for its printing was

shot from a reproduction of the painting of J. Gilbert,

probably the one that (still?) is exhibited at the

Mahebourg Naval Museum.

As for the drawing of the Ile de la Passe stamp

of 21 rupees denomination, it comes from the French

Archives, and was originally kept in the country's

« Dépôt des fortifications des colonies ».

Strangely enough, in the text of the descriptive

leaflet that was inserted in the First Day Cover for that

issue, one finds no mention whatsoever of the source

of the ‘Battle Scene’ image and of the ‘Ile de la Passe’

drawing. Such lack of reference to the original painting

and drawing therefore prompts the following question

to the postal authorities of Port-Louis: have the rights

of reproduction of the painting and of the drawing

been sought/obtained prior to the printing of the

stamps? Given that copyrights and rights of

reproduction are flouted in Mauritius, this request is

quite relevant: indeed, it would be sad to get

confirmation of the fact that a Mauritian Government

parastatal has done exactly the same as the many

individuals and small outlets on the island who help

themselves without hesitation with works of others for

their own needs and interests. It would be all the more

serious when one considers that the stamps of

Mauritius are widely distributed, sold and traded

abroad, in France and the United Kingdom in

particular.

We shall discuss in future about other aspects

of the modern period of Mauritius philately that are

dubious, focusing on three further aspects of its

management, namely the inappropriate use and abuse

to which our stamps issues have been put to, the lack

of originality in the design and the pre-printing process

of stamps in the last ten years and the major

weaknesses in the promotion of our stamps, both mint

and used, in Mauritius and abroad.

Celui de 14 roupies provient d’une

photographie de la partie inférieure gauche du tableau

du peintre (de marine) français Julien Gilbert, dont

l’original appartient au Musée de la Marine à Paris. Les

détails du tableau qui apparaissent sur le timbre étant

moins précis que ceux de cet original, l’on peut déduire

sans grand risque de se tromper que c’est une photo

d’une reproduction du tableau de J. Gilbert qui a servi

pour l’impression du timbre, probablement celle se

trouvant au Musée de Mahébourg.

Quant au plan de l’île de la Passe qui figure sur

le timbre de 21 roupies, il provient des Archives

françaises, et se trouvait à l’origine au « Dépôt des

fortifications des colonies » de ce pays.

Dans le texte du feuillet descriptif qui

accompagne le pli premier jour de cette émission du

28 août 2010, il n’y a curieusement aucune mention de

la source de l’image « Battle Scene » et de celle de

l’ « Ile de la Passe ». Cette absence de référence nous

pousse donc à demander aux autorités postales de

Port-Louis si les droits de reproduction de la peinture

et du plan leur ont été accordés à cette occasion. Vu

que les droits d’auteur et de reproduction sont peu

respectés à Maurice, cette demande est pertinente :

en effet, il serait désespérant de se faire confirmer

qu’un organisme du Gouvernement mauricien a imité

tous les individus et les débits dans l’île qui se servent

sans hésitation des créations d’autrui pour leurs

propres besoins et intérêts. Cette infraction serait

d’autant plus grave si l’on tient compte du fait que les

timbres de Maurice sont largement distribués, vendus

et échangés à l’étranger, en France et au Royaume-Uni

en particulier.

Nous aborderons une prochaine fois d’autres

aspects des défaillances de la gestion de la philatélie

de Maurice en nous concentrant sur trois autres

aspects de celle-ci, à savoir l’utilisation déplacée et

abusive à laquelle ont servi certaines émissions de

timbres de notre pays, le désespérant manque

d’originalité dans le design et la préimpression des

timbres depuis une dizaine d’années et les grandes

faiblesses de la promotion de notre philatélie, tant à

Maurice qu’à l’étranger, depuis 1968.

[email protected]

© All Rights Reserved

No part of this article, however short may be reproduced by any means and in any media whatsoever, either in Mauritius or abroad,

without the prior written permission of the author and the Mauritius Philatelic Society.

mailto:[email protected]


“TO ERR IS DIVINE”

By DAVID LODGE

David Lodge, Contributing Editor of Scott

Stamp Monthly the USA publication, is responsible

for the back page of the journal.

In March 2001 I submitted some Mauritian

oddities to David for consideration. I was pleasantly

surprised to learn the most of what I submitted had

never been published by Scott Stamp Monthly.

The frequency with which short pieces on

Mauritian stamps appeared in the To Err is Divine

page has been good publicity for Mauritius stamps

even if this sometimes expose us to ridicule

because of some very silly mistakes.

Whilst I am credited at the end of each

piece with “Thanks to Mico Antoine of Quatre

Bornes Mauritius” it is David Lodge who wrote the

pieces from background material supplied by me,

enhanced of course with additional data from his

own source and treated in his own inimitable style.

* * * * *

The above is from the Mauritius Philatelic

Society – 25th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine

published in April 2015. Five “errors” were

concerned namely 60c Cow being milked (1974),

Rs 1.50 Indian immigration (1978), Rs 2.00 Vieille

Ferme (1987), Rs 9.00 Anjalay Coopen (2000) and

Rs 1.00 Finished pullover (2001).

Three other “errors” were not dealt with

because of a lack of space. They are now published

to complete the list of eight stamps submitted to

David Lodge.

N.B. Scott catalogue numbers were used.

Mico W. ANTOINE

* * * * *

Mauritius is a constituent part of the

continent of Africa and a former 19th- and 20th-

century British Crown Colony. It was in Mauritius

where the dodo, a flightless bird, was hunted to

extinction in 1681. The island became an

independent state in 1968. It lies approximately

500 miles east of Madagascar among the Indian

Ocean's Mascarene Islands, along with the active

volcanic island of Réunion (annexed by France in

1946), about 110 miles to its southwest. Although

Mauritius has no volcanic activity today, its

landscape, with multiple lava boulders and several

prominent protrusions of mountainous basalt

(dense, dark, volcanic rock) bears witness to a fiery

past. Included in the semicircle of basaltic monsters

(small mountains described by Mark Twain as

”quaint and picturesque groups of toy peaks”)

overlooking the capital of Port Louis and sheltering

its harbor is Le Pouce (The Thumb), which rises in

dramatic, bent thumb-like fashion to a height of

approximately 2,660 feet. Mauritius Scott 983,

featuring Le Pouce, errs with a colorful beige

portrayal of the dark basalt mass that is the island’s

foundation. Mico Antoine, a writer, newsletter

editor and founding member of the Mauritius

Philatelic Society, recently climbed to Le Pouce’s

summit with 11 society members, and reports that

the slopes are primarily covered with scraggy

vegetation, plants and small trees on three sides

with a larger section of basalt facing the west. "It is

not a barren outcrop at the top of the mountain,”

as shown on the stamp, he confirms.

June 2006

Mauritius Scott 1027-1030 depicts a

quartet of decapod crustaceans from the Brachyur

infraorder that embraces approximately 70 families

— from the pea crab with its pea-size frame to the

underwater Japanese spider crab that carries its 15-

inch torso on spider-like legs spanning almost 13

feet. Scott 1030 shows another giant arthropod, the

coconut crab (Birgus latro), the largest terrestrial of

its kind, with a body size of up to 16 inches and 10

legs, including two forelegs with powerful pincers,

extending outward for up to about three feet.

lndigenous to the Indian and south-western Pacific

oceans and environs, the coconut crab, unable to

breathe in water beyond its first two months of

existence, enjoys a diet of fruits, small dead animals


and prey lacking the speed and dexterity to escape.

Ably equipped to climb vertical coconut tree trunks,

it does not have to wait for windfalls or seed

separations to enjoy the palm trees’ heavily

protected fruit. With its massive claws ready to

crack the resilient shell, and its adjacent two pairs

of powerful gripping legs propelling the creature

upward to a height of around 20 feet, the coconut

meat and milky fluid are an easy target for this crab.

Scott 1030, with its depiction of a crab traversing

horizontally on a thin branch, with coconuts

looming behind it, puts the coconut crab in an

unlikely position (a dangerous sidewise horizontal

crawl) to the almost vertical tree trunks it ascends

for the fruit that is within easy reach at the top.

May 2008

Mauritius Scott 1031-1034 is an expression,

according to Mauritius Post Ltd., of the nation's

“multicultural population” and the extent to which

this diverse ethnicity has contributed to the

traditional games played by the island's children.

Scott 1031 features sapsiwaye, an ancient

Chinese game involving single-foot juggling that

keeps the sapsiwaye aloft and perpetually in the air.

Originally made from a handful of cock feathers tied

together near their lower end, today the propelled

implement, shaped similar to a badminton

shuttlecock, is made of a bundle of elastic bands

tied together in the form of a daisy.

Scott 1032 celebrates the game of marbles,

which originated in ancient Rome and Egypt. Scott

1034 honors the almost 3,000-year-old venerable

Chinese sport of kiteflying that spread rapidly

around the world to become a popular and

competitive activity for all ages.

Scott 1033 depicts hopscotch, game that

mimics the footwork agility training of Roman

soldiers stationed in conquered England from A.D.

47 to A.D. 410.

The game, developed by soldiers’ children

who watched their fathers train, spread around the

world. Today, hopscotch is commonly played in

schoolyards, where chalk and young girls

perpetuate its popularity.

Scott 1033 errs with its caption, which

reads "hop scotch” instead of “hopscotch.”

November 2007

* * * * *

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2016

The Annual General Meeting was held on

Saturday 5th March 2016 at College du St Esprit in

Quatre Bornes.

The notice of the AGM was published in

“L’express” of 16th March 2016 and the convocation

was sent out to all local members on 24th February

2016.

The press notice listed five orders of

business as follows:

1. To read and approve the minute of

proceedings of the last General Meeting.

2. To receive, consider and approve the

report of the president and accounts for

the year ending 31st December 2015.

3. To consider and approve the budget for the

year 2016.

4. To elect the Committee Members and

Office Bearers for the year 2016.

5. To appoint an Auditor for the year 2016.


Closing date of letters of candidature was fixed

at 26th February 2016.

* * * * *

The meeting began at 14:00 hours.

Approval of minutes of AGM 2015

The minutes were read by the secretary

Sachitanand Mungra and were approved

on a proposal of Jean Auguste seconded by

Albert Koenig.

Report of the President for the year 2015

The president reported on the affairs of the

society for the period 1st January 2015 to

31st December 2015 as follows:

FINANCE

The financial position of the society

has been well controlled and has been

within the limits of the budgeted

provisions. Subscriptions forecast was met

as was sponsorship to meet the 25th

anniversary commemoration costs. Sales

were higher than projected and expenses

were well controlled.

The overall deficit is much less than

the forecast resulting in a reduction of

accumulated funds from Rs 72,500 to Rs

40,500 whereas the object was to reduce

these funds to around Rs 25,000. The

remaining comfortable cushion is thus

available to meet future deficits.

Further details will be provided by

the treasurer and other issues relating to

the financial position of the society are

appended to the board for examination.

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

At the beginning of 2015, the

former treasurer had not renewed his

membership and was therefore not a

member of the society on the date of the

AGM. Another former committee member

was told to withdraw his candidature

because of his past performance. At the

2015 AGM there were four fresh

applications for membership of the

committee and five serving members

offered their candidature. Furthermore,

the secretary elected at the 2015 AGM

resigned in July of that year and was

replaced under Article 5 of the rules of the

society. The nine candidate standing for

elections today are the same nine who have

been in office at the end of 2015.

MEMBERSHIP

Six new members joined the society

in 2015, four from Mauritius and two from

abroad. The target was ten. One new local

member happens to be 84 years old. At the

beginning of 2015, eight local members

were removed from the membership

register. Four local members are still not up

to date with their dues at today’s date. The

local membership is today 48 and it is

expected the total will rise to 50 plus by

December 2016. Overseas membership

stands at 20. The society is currently

updating all the data on them and will

manage their files more efficiently from

Mauritius in future.

ACTIVITIES

11 meetings were held in 2015 with

a high of 21 in April and a low of 14 in June

recorded in the attendance register. Taking

into consideration the total membership

for the period and the absence of a couple

of regular members, the average

attendance of 16 for the whole of the year

is more than satisfactory. 11 meetings are

scheduled for 2016 and it is hoped that

attendance will improve. The society

thanks all the members in the room today

for their support and loyalty during 2015.

The Municipality of Port Louis

Stamp Collecting Club had been virtually

inactive during 2015. Only one function was

organized in November with a small group

of children. The Society will continue to

respond when solicited.

At the end of 2015, the society took

over total control of the society’s website.

The website will now be managed and

hosted from Mauritius. The transfer

arrangements are being finalised and the

site will be fully operational as from


BUDGET 2016 / RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS 2015

BUDGET 2016

INCOME Rs EXPENDITURE Rs

Subscriptions 15,000 Cost of Sales 35,000

Donations & Sponsorships 20,000 Postage 4,000

Society Sales 40,000 Stationery 3,000

Other Income 5,000 Catalogues & Magazines 5,000

Cost of Monthly Meetings 12,000

Other Expenses 11,000

- Printing of News Bulletins 10,000

Total Income 80,000 Total Expenditure 80,000

STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS & PAYMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2015

2015 2014 Balance at January 1,2015 RESOURCES

Rs Rs

Cash in Hand 500.00 500.00 Cash in Banks 57,215.33 27,200.53 57,715.33 27,700.53 Add : Receipts for the year

Entrance Fees 400.00 700.00 Subscriptions 17,500.00 15,000.00 Sales 46,675.00 50,525.00 Donations 57,000.00 50,000.00 Others - 11,000.00 121,575.00 127,225.00 Less : Payments for the year Cost of Sales 38,782.00 44,836.50 Newsletters/Bulletins 8,452.00 16,835.00 General Expenses 102,933.15 35,538.70 150,167.15 97,210.20 Balance at 31 December 2015 29,123.18 57,715.33

REPRESENTED BY: Cash in Hand – 31 December 2015 500.00 500.00 Cash at Bank – 31 December 2015 28,623.18 57,215.33 29,123.18 57,715.33

VISITING MAURITIUS? GET IN TOUCH WITH THE

MAURITIUS PHILATELIC SOCIETY


INCOME AND EXPENDITURE / ASSETS AND LIABILITIES 2015

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2015

2015 2014

Rs Rs INCOME

Entrance Fees 400.00 700.00 Subscriptions 17,500.00 15,000.00 Sales 46,675.00 50,525.00 Donations 57,000.00 50,000.00 Other Income - - 121,575.00 116,225.00 EXPENDITURE

Cost of Sales 38,782.00 44,836.50 Newsletters/Bulletins 8,452.00 16,835.00 Postage & Stamps 3,363.00 7,050.00 Printing and Stationery 1,662.15 3,312.50 Magazines 85,000.00 1,815.00 Audit Fees 3,450.00 3,450.00 General Expenses 12,908.00 19,911.20 153,617.15 97,210.20 (DEFICIT) / SURPLUS FOR YEAR (32,042.15) 19,014.80

STATEMENT OF ASSETS & LIABILITIES AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2015

2015 2014 FIXED ASSETS Rs Rs

Furniture & Fittings 7,735.00 7,735.00 CURRENT ASSETS Stocks 7,500.00 7,500.00 Debtors 3,000.00 3,000.00 Cash in hand 500.00 500.00 Cash at Bank 28,623.18 57,215.33 39,623.18 68,215.33 LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES Sundry Creditors 3,450.00 3,450.00 32,723.18 64,765.33 40,458.18 72,500.53 ACCUMULATED FUND Balance at January 1 72,500.33 53,485.53 (Deficit) / Surplus for Year (32,042.15) 19,014.80

40,458.18 72,500.33

ATTEND THE MONTHLY MEETINGS AND BE FIRST TO GET THE LATEST NEWS


mid-2016. This will allow for a more

efficient and appropriate development of

the website. The secretary and the assistant

secretary will control the website.

The newsletter of June 2015 No.16

is in the final stages of preparation and the

December 2015 No.17 newsletter will be

issued after mid-2016. The Society will

concentrate on these two newsletters after

the conclusion of all AGM business. The

delay has been caused mainly because of

the 25th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine,

the transfer of the website from Australia

to Mauritius and the stoppage of all work

on No.16 because of non-compliance with

the society’s instructions.

The commemoration of the 25th

anniversary of the society was in the end

neither of standards envisaged nor were all

the objectives met. The magazine was the

only positive outcome and was well

received and reviewed by our peers abroad.

The souvenir mug and plate support was

poor as was the sale of the polo shirt and

there was no special commemorative cover

produced. There were lots of ideas, much

silliness and some stupidity too. There is

still some unfinished business which should

be resolved soon. Members were kept fully

informed at the society meetings and all the

decisions taken by the committee were

duly minuted and approved.

I want to draw your attention to the

disengagement and departure of some

members during the last two years. Almost

all of them have found their new vocation

in the Mauritius Post sponsored Dodo

Philatelic Club for their personal pecuniary

advantage. Their limited contribution to the

Mauritius Philatelic Society, their

questionable philatelic knowledge, their

opportunism and their sensitivities are best

suited for their new mission. They have

been no loss to us, we are still here in our

27th year.

Let us concentrate on consolidating

our position during 2016.

Approval of the accounts ending 31st

December 2015

The treasurer Saoud Mauthoor

presented the accounts of the society, a

copy of which was appended to the notice

board. The accounts were approved on a

proposition of Diane Sher Mohamedkhan

seconded by Tarkeswar Nath Greedharrye.

Approval of the Budget 2016

The budget was presented by the

treasurer Saoud Mauthoor. Estimated

income of Rs. 80,000 and Expenditure of Rs.

80,000. The budget was approved on a

proposition of Jaswant Jhurry seconded by

Derek Taylor.

Election of Committee Members and Office

Bearers for 2016

The following were elected

unanimously by acclamation (18 members)

as members of the Management

Committee for 2016: Mico Wilfrid Antoine,

Jean Joseph Auguste, Thonyno Dieudonne,

Arnaud Guibert, Alain Louis, Ahmad Nasser

Maderbokus, Saoud Mauthoor,

Sachitanand Mungra, Jaswant Jhurry.

Appointment of Auditor for 2016

Man Fan Lam Hang, FCCA was

appointed as auditor of the society for 2016

on a proposition of Krishna Gunnoo

seconded by Thoolassingham Coothen.

A.O.B.

There was no other business raised.

* * * * *

Derek Taylor said a few kind words about

the amount of work done by members of the

management committee during the year under

review emphasising upon the voluntary aspect of

the committee’s exemplary and effective conduct

of the affairs of the society.


CENTRAL FLACQ POST OFFICE

A press notice in “Week End” of

28th February 2016 announced the relocation of

Central Flacq post office from its former premises

on Post Office Road to a more modern setting in

“Flacq Coeur de Ville, Super U Complex”, as from

Monday 29th February 2016.

“POST OFFICE” NEWS

The annal of Mauritius Post Ltd which is

usually published in December of the year under

review was in 2015 published in March 2016. The

new look “POST OFFICE” NEWS on the events and

activities of 2015 was a slimmer than usual 16 page

newsletter.

It opens with the new “Chairperson’s

Message” and a lengthy ramble by the long

surviving “CEO’s Message” on innovations followed

by ten other reports which are essentially the yearly

recitals on reinvention and transformation. This is

followed by reports on customer service survey,

IT development, safety and health promotion,

financial evolution, human resources, sales and

marketing snippets, a World Post Day centerfold,

property assets maintenance, trade union matters

and finally philately closes the contents.

The one financial graph and three pie charts

overwhelmed page 7 leaving very little room for

some scant notes. Very few figures were given. The

graphics showed an unbelievable 100% jump in

non-postal revenue between 2003 and 2015. The

unmanageable staff costs however continues to

rise and stood at 75% of total cost in 2015. The asset

base of the corporation supposedly increased by

46% since 2003 and that well may be the reason

why Mauritius Post is almost broke and in very dire

straits for the last couple of years. Press reports and

the government audit office reports have been

more revealing than fancy graphics.

On the philatelic front only four

commemorative postage stamps were released in

2015. The Postal Museum has performed poorly

and the philatelic bureau has been fleecing its

customers with very unethical philatelic practices,

products and prices yet Mauritius Post proudly

reports that at “Singapore 2015” they were

awarded an ex-aequo third rate ranking for a

bronze with … Vietnam!

2016 MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The Management Committee of the Society was constituted on Saturday 5th March 2016 after the Annual General Meeting.

The members for 2016 are:

President – Mico Wilfrid Antoine Vice President – Ahmad Nasser Maderbokus Treasurer – Saoud Mauthoor Vice Treasurer – Alain Louis Secretary – Sachitanand Mungra Vice Secretary – Arnaud Guibert Members – Joseph Jean Auguste – Thonyno Dieudonné – Jaswant Jhurry

CORRIGENDUM

An inexplicable error escaped the vigilance

of the editor in the 20o10’ Issue No 17 December

2015 on page 17 paragraph 4 in the hard copy

distributed to members within Mauritius. The date

20th September 2015 should have read 25th

September 2015.

The error was corrected in the e-mail

edition transmitted to our overseas members – so

it is the local hard copy version that must be

corrected.

Mauritius Philatelic Society for accurate

postal history of Mauritius


THEY CAME TO MAURITIUS …. DAVID LIVINGSTONE 1813-73

In June 2016 the monthly meeting agenda

was changed without prior notice in order to

accommodate other philatelic related subjects

because of three major articles in “Week End”

during the month of May. One of these articles was

titled “Le séjour de l’explorateur écossais David

Livingstone à Maurice en 1856”.

There are very few Mauritians who know

much about the real history of Mauritius. Some

contemporary historians having written their own

particular versions of “The history of Mauritius”

then argue amongst themselves and refer to their

peers as “pseudo historians”. Unresearched,

inaccurate, biased accounts are more than not the

norm.

The French period from 1715 to 1810 has

been more or less well documented, studied and

promoted by the local French community with

strong cultural and financial support from France.

Interest in the British period of 1810 to 1968

diminished with their departure and that era is

often bent with a particular slant. After 1968

anything goes. The honest historically accurate and

objectively correct history of Mauritius is yet to be

written.

Not many in Mauritius or elsewhere for that

matter know that David Livingstone visited

Mauritius for 70 days between 12th August and

22nd October 1856. Auguste Toussaint and Amédée

Nagapen both respected relatively reliable

chroniclers of Mauritian history do not mention this

visit in their repertoires. During Livingstone’s stay in

Mauritius, as the guest of General C M Hay at

Claremont, Beau Bassin, he met very few people as

he was in rather bad physical shape as well as in

very poor health so he rested and recuperated. He

did however meet members of Jean Le Brun’s

family and he gave two conferences on his African

explorations.

The rough crossing from Quilimane, in

Portuguese Mozambique, to Port Louis was

awesomely traumatic for Livingstone’s Makololo

headman Sekwebu who had never been to sea

before. Dreading the rest of the voyage to England

via Galle and Aden a demented Sekwebu

committed suicide in Port Louis harbour. This tragic

lost greatly distressed Livingstone whose intention

was to introduce an intelligent and very able African

tribesman to the British public and to western

civilisation.

What is widely known about David

Livingstone is his exploration and missionary work

in Africa, particularly in central Africa, and his

strong opposition to the slave trade. He criss-

crossed subequatorial Africa between 1841 and

1873 during four separate expeditions. He founded

mission schools in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. He

married Mary Moffat the daughter of fellow

missionary Robert Moffat in Zimbabwe. He

discovered the Victoria Falls (or Mozi-o-Tunya the

smoke that thunders) in 1855 and he explored the

Zambezi River and Lake Malawi. Feared dead he

was “found” by Dr. Henry M Stanley in 1871 at Ujiji

in the south west of Tanzania who addressed him

with one of the world’s most famous greeting “Dr

Livingstone, I presume”. He died of malaria in 1873.

His heart was buried at Chitambo in the north of

Zambia and his body was shipped to London where

he was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey.

His statue stands in the southern “Rain

Forest” at Victoria Falls. The Zambian border town

of Livingstone near Victoria Falls is named after

him. Livingstonia mission in Malawi honours his

memory and the commercial town of Blantyre also

in Malawi was named after his Scottish birthplace.

Many post independence name places in Africa

have been changed after the end of colonial rule,

the memory of David Livingstone has not suffered

that fate in the former Federation of Rhodesia and

Nyasaland.

The 1st May 2016 account of David

Livingstone’s sojourn in Mauritius in “Week End”

was written from data provided by three members

of the Société Royale des Arts et des Sciences of

Mauritius and acknowledgement is extended to

eight bibliographic sources. It is an excellent piece

of Mauritian history. If it was not for that article I

would not have written this piece, nor shown my

stamps or talked about David Livingstone at the

June meeting.

N.B. Countries are identified by their post-colonial

names in para 5 and 6.


DAVID LIVINGSTONE STAMPS

David Livingstone has appeared on the

stamps of the following countries: Rhodesia and

Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Malawi, Zambia and the UK.

He described his discovery of Victoria Falls,

one of the seven natural wonders of the world as …

“scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by

angels in flight”.

In 1973 Great Britain featured David

Livingstone se-tenant together with Henry Stanley

in the “British Explorers” set of five stamps. It is

however in today’s Zambia that David Livingstone is

most honoured with the name place border town

of Livingstone, the Livingstone Game Reserve and

Livingstone Island in the Zambezi River near the lip

of the waterfalls. David Livingstone died at

Chitambo village in Zambia and his heart is buried

under a tree at the spot chosen by him. His death

centenary was commemorated in 1973 with a set of

six stamps and again in 1996 with another memorial

stamp.

In 1973 Malawi also honoured David

Livingstone with a set of four stamps plus a special

stamp of the stained-glass window of Livingstonia

Mission. Zimbabwe where his statue still stands on

the spot where he presumably first sighted the

Victoria Falls has issued several stamps on David

Livingstone … under its former colonial names and

the Victoria Falls have featured on many stamps of

the former colony. In today’s Zimbabwe David

Livingstone is remembered for the discovery of the

Victoria Falls but not much for his exploration and

missionary work.

M W Antoine

Reference: 1,000 Great Lives – Jonathan Law. / A Secondary Geography of Zambia – Longman/Temco.

British explorers

Dr Livingstone I presume

Blessed are they

He left his heart in Zambia

Livingstonia Mission

Southern Rhodesia

Rhodesia & Nyasaland

Rhodesia

Zimbabwe


INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION

DAY

Following the report in the December 2015

Issue No 17 20o10’ another rectangle handstamp

measuring 40mm long by 25mm with a different

message has been seen struck in red on inland mail.

This message reads in three lines Fighting

corruption/is everybody’s social/responsibility with

Hotline: 142 at the bottom. The design of this new

handstamp differs from the one reported earlier,

the font size and spacing between the lines are not

the same.

Two different messages for the same

campaign may well be the confirmation of how

corrupt Mauritius has become.

SOCIETY MEETINGS 2016

The society monthly meeting calendar for

the year 2016 was fixed as follows:

6th February, 5th March, 2nd April, 7th May,

4th June, 2nd July, 6th August, 3rd September,

1st October, 5th November, 3rd December. No

meeting is held in January.

All meetings are held at College du St Esprit,

Sir Virgil Naz Avenue, Quatre Bornes.

UPDATE

In newsletter No. 16 of June 2015 we

reported on datestamping, stamp cancelling and on

“Postage Due” procedures. On page 24 we stated

that underpayments will continue not only

throughout 2015 but also during 2016. Here is the

evidence for the month of March 2016 alone.

Furthermore the quality of postmarks have shown

no improvements because Mauritius Post is

incapable of fixing the problem at their counters

and in their back offices.


THE METERED TRANSITION OF A BANK

These metermarks tells the story of a

particular bank in Mauritius. Briefly South East Asia

Bank was bought out by Bramer Bank. Then Bramer

Bank became National Commercial Bank when it

was nationalized. National Commercial Bank then

absorbed The Mauritius Post and Cooperative Bank.

Finally National Commercial Bank was

reconstituted as Maubank.

Note the rapidity of the digital changes from 02.03.2015 to 12.02.2016

Mauritius Philatelic Society 1989 - 2014

25TH Anniversary Souvenir Magazine

Entered in three philatelic exhibitions - Winner of three awards

Queensland State Exhibition 26-27 September 2015 – Vermeil Hong Kong 2015 (31st Asian International Stamp Exhibition) 20 – 25 November - Large silver

New York (World Stamp Show – NY 2016) 28 May – 4 June 2016 – Large silver


THE PRESS AND THE POST

06.01.2016 Le Mauricien : E-commerce : croissance de 30% à 40% en 2015.

12.01.2016 Le Défi Quotidien : Rs 15M d’héroïne pure saisie à la poste centrale.

14.01.2016 L’express : Le ministère des Finances injecte Rs 500 millions dans la Poste.

16.01.2016 Le Mauricien : MauBank : polémique sur les Rs 510M de la Poste.

16.01.2016 Le Défi Plus : Services postaux : (union matters re vacancies)

20.01.2016 L’express : Nominations à la Poste L’ICAC enquête.

22.01.2016 Le Défi Quotidien : Rs 2.7 millions de drogues saisies.

23.01.2016 L’express : Lutte antidrogue : La Poste met le paquet.

27.01.2016 Le Défi Quotidien : Trafic de drogue – La voie postale privilégiée.

13.02.2016 L’express : La Poste en pagaille : (Parcels Office).

27.02.2016 L’express : Un facteur violent devant un comité disciplinaire.

19.03.2016 L’express : Poste : polémique autour d’une soixantaine de transferts.

14.04.2016 Le Défi Quotidien : Collaboration Mauritius Post – PME

17.04.2016 Week End : Doléances contre le bureau de poste de Rose Hill

20.04.2016 L’express : La Poste paralysée

08.05.2016 Week End : Le cas de Mauritius Post Office (I)

14.05.2016 Le Défi Plus : Mauritius Post – deux cadres recalés

18.05.2016 Le Mauricien : Tentative de vol dans un bureau de poste.

23.05.2016 Le Défi Quotidien : Tentative de vol à la poste de Beau Bassin

25.05.2016 Le Défi Quotidien : Le suspect trahi par ses vêtements

29.05.2016 Week End : Le cas de Mauritius Post Office (II)

04.06.2016 Le Défi Plus : Les comptes de la Poste dans le rouge

08.06.2016 Le Mauricien : La Mauritius Post se positionne …. en e-commerce

26.06.2016 L’express Dimanche : Réduit L’ancienne gare ferroviaire …

29.06.2016 Le Défi Quotidien : Pertes de Rs 646,6 M à la Mauritius Post

Note: The two articles in “Week End” (I) and (II) were both lengthy two full page features.

Press coverage on Mauritius Post for the first six months of 2016 was rather negative on most fronts;

toxic loans at the Mauritius Post and Cooperative Bank Ltd (MPCB), drug trafficking via the postal services, staff

problems, disfunction at the parcels office, paralysis in its operation and very serious financial problems. The

generally mediatic CEO and his management team kept a very low profile.

issue no. 18 june 2016 -...

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