Philatelic first with NZ show

Stamps

THE World Stamp Exhibition, New Zealand 1990, was held recently to celebrate the signing of the Waitangi treaty 150 years ago. It was the first world stamp exhibition held in New Zealand and only the second to be held in the Australasian region following Ausipex 84 held in Melbourne.

The event again focused the philatelic spotlight on the Pacific area.

Both New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have re cently released annual reports for their postal operations.

The New Zealand report was for the year 1990. Points of note are: • The letter rate for the basic letter has been held at for the third successive year, • achieved over 95 per cent of letters delivered on time, • has 316 Post shops, 123 agency outlets, 453 postal delivery centres and 595 out lets for stamps and products, • operation earning up 41 per cent to S44m (after tax).

In New Zealand, all stamps with the values of one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight and nine cents have been with drawn, due to the country’s withdrawal of one- and two-cent coins.

The Papua New Guinea report was for the year 1989. Points of note are: • Philatelic sales up 21 per cent. Postal sales up 1.43 per cent, • Gradual decldine in mail volume, • A decline of 1.5 per cent to 92 per cent in letters delivered on time due to

Bougainville situation,

• Postal profit up 100 per cent.

It looks as if the postal agencies from those two countries are doing well.

On the Pacific front, Michael Sanig has resigned as co-director of Pacific Stamp Bureau. Pacific Stamp Bureau attended the New Zealand 1990, its first Pacific exhibition. Mr Sanig has been replaced by Bernie Doherty as the Editor of Stamp News Australia.

The celebration of the Queen Mothers’ 90th Birthday on August 4 has been marked with special coins and stamps. Kiribati, Niue, Penrhyn, Cook Islands, Pitcairn Islands, Aitutaki and Solomon Islands issued commemorative stamps for the event.

Pitcairn Islands is to pass a milestone in its postal history. On October 15, a set of five stamps will be issued to commem orate the 50th Anniversary of the first Pitcairn Islands stamp.

All that can be said of Pitcairn’s postal service during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is that it was irregu

lar and unorganised. No postage stamps existed on Pitcairn, so mail was often handed to the captains of passing ships who paid for the onward postage upon reaching their first port of call. Fre quently such letters carried a hand stamped cachet “Posted in [or at] Pitcairn Island/No Stamps Available”.

Attempts were made by the British

early in the twentieth century to organise a postal service through the British Consul in Tahiti, but only small quantities of mail appear to have been carried. Gerald Bliss, postmaster in the Panama Canal Zone shortly after the canal opened in 1915, acted as unofficial agent for the inhabitants of Pitcairn for a number of years, and his office became a clearing station for Pitcairn Island.

A number of visiting government administrators having pointed out over the years the disadvantages stemming from the lack of a postal service. It was agreed by the British and New Zealand governments in 1921 that both countries would accept and deliver unstamped

mail from Pitcairn. The concession consisted of a waiving of the normal double surcharge on unstamped letters and reverting to the earlier postal system whereby the receiver paid for the mail.

In time, abuses of the system (passen gers in passing ships were reputedly putting mail ashore for onward trans mission under the “no stamp” system) led to New Zealand Post Office author ities withdrawing the concession in May, 1926. There followed a period of 12

months when Pitcairn was once again without an auth orised postal service.

This unhappy state of af fairs came to an end on June 7, 1927, when an agency was established on Pitcairn for the sale of New Zealand stamps.

Thus, until October 14, 1940, mail despatched from Pit cairn bore New Zealand post age stamps covered by cancel lations reading “Pitcairn

Island/NZ Postal Agency”.

Largely as a result of rec ommendations made by Mr J S Neil, a Colonial Office employee sent out in 1937 to report on the form of govern

ment on Pitcairn, official notice was given on April 30, 1940, of establishment of a Post Office on the island. In due course this led to the closing of the NZ Post Office Agency onOctober 14, 1940, and the opening the following day of the Pitcairn Islands Post Office with the release of the first Pitcairn Islands stamps. This consisted of the six designs making up the definitive issue which remained on sale until July, 1957.

Designs for the new commemorative set incorporate stamps on stamps. One definitive stamp from each decade since 1940 has been selected to represent settlement, education, communication, royalty and ships. □