"TIN-CAN" MAIL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 133, 8 June 1939, Page 11

"TIN-CAN" MAIL

An opportunity of obtaining the i«" teresting "Tin-can" mail covers will be afforded philatelists when the steamer Maunganui calls oS Niuafoou Island during the course of her cruise to Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji in August. Last year Jubilee stamps were issuedi by the Tongan Government to cele-* brate the twentieth year of Queen' Salote's reign, and these will be used: for the "Tin-can" mail, a special cover, with a full set of the jubilee stamps being available. To obtain the "Tin-can" mail postmarks on envelopes, they should be addressed to the intended, recipient, and sent under cover of another en« velope addressed to the Union Steant Ship Co., R , Wellington, and marked on; the outside "Tin-can Mail." Sixpence in loose New Zealand stamps for eachcover to be postmarked (2£d for the necessary Tongan stamp and the balance for the islanders* services in] handling the mail) should be enclosed, and the packet must Teach the Union; Steam Ship Company, Wellington, be-1 fore Friday, July 28. One shilling hi stamps should be enclosed for each' cover on which a full set of jubilee stamps is required. The envelope should be of a size to show off the postmarks satisfactorily, about 6 inches wide by 5 inches deep* "The letters will be taken to Niuafooxi by the Maunganui and after being dealt with there they will be returned by a later opportunity. It may. perhaps be two ou three months before "4tie letters are received by the addressees, as, apart from the infrequency. of calls at thtt island, occasionally there is Asjgyf through- the island's supply of Ton'fcadl stamps running out.