Philatelic Tragedy

Pitcairn Island Stamps

IT was officially announced several weeks ago that as from October 15 the con trol of the Post Office of Pitcairn Is land would be transferred from New Zealand to Fiji and that on that date (October 15) sets of the new postal stamps issued for Pitcairn Island would be available in Suva.

Immediately there was a rush by stamp collectors who wanted from Pitcairn Is land what are called “first day covers'’ carrying the new stamps.

Owing to war conditions the extra ordinarily heavy mail for Pitcairn Is land (caused by this demand for stamps) was held up at Panama; and instructions then were given that the issue of the new stamps, in Pitcairn and in Suva, should not take place until November 15.

But there was a misunderstanding in Suva, and Suva Post Office issued the new stamps on October 15—although thousands of people who had sent to Pitcairn Island, by post, from all over the world, for sets of the new stamps, could not get their first day covers until November 15.

Everyone concerned is now trying to straighten out the tangle. Of course, stamp collectors of the more passionate kind regard the occurrence as a very great tragedy.

Before departing for California in October, former Governor L. lore (once of Tahiti and New Caledonia) deposited a typescript copy of his “Un Beige au Service de la France dans L’Ocean Pacifique: J. A. Moerenhout, 1796-1879” in the Mitchell Library, in Sydney. As Moerenhout is one of the most elusive figures in Tahitian history, the publica tion of this work will be looked forward to by students of Pacific history through out the world. M. Jore, who has been working in the Library for some months, has also completed his Pacific Biblio graphy (another important work). It is possible that he may obtain a publisher in the United States.

Mr. Alan McGowan, who was well known in Suva, Fiji, as a member of the “Fiji Times and Herald” staff, is now in the AIF, at Ingleburn, NSW.

Mrs. Mossman, of Rabaul, New Guinea, mother of June Mossman, the brilliant young swimmer for whom a bright future is predicted in the Australian swimming world, has informed us that her daughter is only 15 years’ old—not 16 as stated in the article accompanying June’s photo graph in the October “PIM”. She will not be 16 until next year.

In the half year ended August 31 Guinea Airways, Ltd., made a net profit of £8,518 —five-eighths of which was earned in New Guinea and three-eighths in Australia. The net profit in the last full year was £16,755.