Pacific stamp box

The 100th Anniversary of postal ad ministration in the territories now known as Papua New Guinea will occur in August of this year, an event which will be marked by special celebrations and issue on August 21 of four stamps, plus a miniature sheet.

A documentary film has also been produced tracing the history of the Post Office, and a special mail run will be made from Kokoda to Port Moresby along the Kokoda Trail, made famous during World War 11.

In the early days of PNG, mail was carried by runners provided by the Armed Constabulary in Port Moresby.

The mails were fortnightly, leaving Port Moresby for Kokoda in the northern district, then connecting with another runner to loma. The constable would normally take no more than nine days for this incredible journey on foot.

The group making the commemora tive walk in August will carry mail and special re-enactment pre-stamped en velopes which will be postmarked with a special stamp (pictured here) at Kokoda and Owen’s Corner where the walk ends.

All of this we learned from Mr Alex Nonwo, executive manager of the PNG Philatelic Bureau, who last month braved Sydney’s icy winter weather to oversee some important business for his enterprise.

We all joked that he seemed to have adopted the U.S.Mail’s motto about neither rain, snow nor heat of day staying postmen from their appointed rounds.

I asked Mr Nonwo why he thought PNG stamps were so popular all around the world. “It is our issuing policy,” he said. “We issue PNG stamps to meet specific postal require ments and do not cater for the desires of stamp collectors when deciding the facevalues of the stamps. Collectors are not ignored, of course. Their needs are met by designs depicting only PNG subjects, by having the stamps printed by the world’s leading printers, by ensuring that the bulk of each issue is sold at post offices for normal postal purposes, and by making sufficient issues to be of interest, but not so many that the market is flooded.

“We schedule a maximum of six issues a year. Three of these usually feature the flora and fauna of PNG, while the others depict important politi cal events or commemorations. Defini-

tive sets are replaced about every four years. ”

Mr Nonwo was adamant that this policy would not change and that the country would never follow some countries “which have abandoned all to draw in the collectors’ money.”

“One of the most significant events of recent times in the Philatelic Bureau was the computerising of accounts,” he said. “This has made our service to our customers much more efficient. Unfor tunately, there have been difficulties since our fire, but things seem to be running more smoothly now.” (One of the services I have noted recently is the appearance of a little slip of paper in packets of stamps I have received giving the name of the person who made up the order, and telling me that if things are not correct I should contact him. This is a great service and one I have not seen from other philatelic bureaus).

The PNG Bureau is now concentrat ing on increasing its sales in the major world markets and is in the process of

establishing new marketing points in London and the U.S.A. There will also be a greater sales push towards dealers.

Philatelic bureaus have also been established in the larger post offices of PNG to increase sales. The bureau will also be represented in the forthcoming PNG trade mission to Sydney and Melbourne in September.

Mr Nonwo said that the Bureau intended to continue issue of pre stamped envelopes, recently intro duced to the range of products, and was now looking at the possibility of running some pre-stamped post cards.

Work will also be done on improving the presentation of annual packs.

Mr Nonwo also said a special issue would be made to commemorate PNG’s Tenth Anniversary of Independ ence on September 16.

INVESTMENT TIP... In keeping with the PNG theme this month I would suggest putting aside a few PNG Defence Force stamps, over-printed 12t. More than 1 million have been over-printed, but they are in general circulation, with a very limited life span.

In a situation such as this very few mint stamps are put aside until it is too late.

New Zealand

My compliments to the New Zealand Post Office on the production of their colorful Philatelic Bulletin. It is both interesting and very well done, with news of N.Z. new issues, background stories, and information on philatelic material available from the Post Office.

The New Zealand National Philatelic Exhibition, TARAPEX ’B6, will be held in New Plymouth, from October 17 to 27, next year. I suggest you start planning now. It promises to be a very good occasion.

One of the handsome miniature sheets issued

by Fiji to commemorate

the Life and Times of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. This year marks her 85th birthday and almost every Com monwealth country has made a special issue of stamps for the event. The Pacific islands countries seem to have done espe cially well. This is Fiji’s $1 miniature sheet.