AIR MAIL STAMPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue LXI, 12 July 1930, Page 13

AIR MAIL STAMPS.

ENTHUSIASM OF COEUBCTOKS. EXHIBITION EN" LONDON, in exhibition of air mail and air flight stamps. and.envelopes.recently .on,view in London furnished proof of the extraordinary interest in and values attached to these stamps.. The: exhibition included envelopes carried- in the flight of Sir Boss Smith to Australia; by-Eongsford Smith, on- his. Pacific light, and by. Sultan Cobham on his flights. There was also a letter carried, by Harry- Hawker hearing a Newfcaindlarid dollar stamp which is valued at £170. This envelope was in the Atlantic for afew hours when Hawker came down in mid-ocean. Elaborate catalogues have been published in Europe and America detailing the various- issues of these historic, and valuable labels. -:' WiMns in" Ms Polar flights carried, air raaflsj and so, in the Antarctic, "dicLßyrdV who was coniitituted Postmaster in Little America. Shackleton Polar stamps are vary valuable.: ■•'•■;.'•'••■ '•; . ■'.'. Graf MaiL hi her various voyages to distant lands and.aronnd".j:lie world, the Graf- Zeppelin carried a largenumber, of mails... Certain varieties of stamps used:,are already hemming scarce and command increasingly high-prices. , Before, jher flights thousands weeks heforenaVdffiom stamp cbHectors eager to have''specimens of- the romd-the-warid'aM'maiL carrieti- in 'an airship. In: fact, Vtamp collectors cbntrihttted fergely towards the expenses of the Graf Zeppelin's; tours. A large, proportion of the.letters were consigned for. the round trip in order that they might' acquire &e. postmarks i of t each, port of call round the world at <a- cosfrof 12/ each; Postcards were taken for half that sum.

In the Unitai. States, where stamp collectors outnumber those of other nations, special 'stamps have" been designed for the Zeppelin mail. The stamp of 2.60 dollar's (about; 11/) face value, pepaid a letter from New York to Germany by sea, and .thence back to the s®der via, Seville and- Pernambueo by Spain and Brazil are also issuing jistmctive air mail stamps for the South Atlantic air mail.

hi the near future the British air- % FdOO and ElOl will be making their %hts to Canada and Egypt and India respectively, and no doubt the British Post Office will make a special aerial available, as. there is profit, in t&ese issues.

Since the regular air mail between England and India is already in operafa, it is probable that the second stage from India to Australia will-be opened g i&e near future. In fact, the Air speaks of its being tentatively °P en ed nest year, when a special stamp 'ill be issued for the through route on tfamain trunk line from London to Sydand Melbourne. This will be an Mstoric issue, ranking with some of those Hritiea of the'early air mail days.

Nineteen Years Old. -. Nineteen years ago the first United jSlgdom aerial post -was begun to mark ™e coronation of King George. It was air ied in "a" curious looking contraption reminiscent of the' days of the Wright toilers, Paulhan, Bleriot, and others; «Tfas "sanctioned by the Postmaster"aterali 51 a mo3t bold and progressive 8 %- K The Times" devoted a leading "Taele to the occasion, and the mail was ar ried from. London to Windsor Castle -* distance-of IS miles. .' . - . To-day .the air mail is carried" across continents, and oceans, and no one takes U J interest in the event save those stamp-fiends who are always on "switch for-something new: In the *>«7iiays Q f. Australian" history letters j? M colonists were carried in the oldje sailing, ships, which made the voyM ott in seven or ei<rht months, and I reply took another eight months to Then came the steamer. zm rednced the time of transit to six J* 5 ; are now watching the develop«f the steamer-cum-air mail stage.