Pictorial Stamp Issue

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 99, 30 April 1935, Page 9

Pictorial Stamp Issue

SPECIAL FIRST-DAY COVERS. Ter Press Association. WELLINGTON, April 27. Though most people lire interested in stamps only because of the remarkable service which can be rendered by the small pieco of paper costing a penny on' a halfpenny, philatelists alt over the world have shown a keen- desire for other reasons to possess specimens of the New Zealand pictorial issue bearing tho date stamp of the first day of issue, May Ist. The remarkable extent of this specialised interest is shown by the big demand for first-day covers more than a week before they can be used. Already tho stock is nearly exhausted. , The firstcover envelopes are issued free of charge with a description and folder, aro forwarded to tho General Post Office for special hand date stamping, care being taken to show tho important date of Ist May, without damaging the design. Supplies of first-cover envelopes carrying a selection of six New Zealand views were forwarded to the Chief Postmaster of the Dominion on April 23rd. The collection of first-flight covers of airmails is a now branch of philately which is increasing in extent and New Zealand has been given several opportunities in this sphere. Tho first regular air mail flight on tho West Coast between Hokitika and Okuru on 31st December, 1934, carried a large letter mail showing that a number of enthusiasts had used it. New Zealand’s contribution in letters to the first regular air mail service between Sydney and London on December 10th, was 4193, indicating a distinct rush to take advantage of this exceptional occasion, because the next air mail from Sydney carried only 1421 letters from New Zealand. The inauguration of the Gisbome-Napier daily passenger service by air was marked by a special carriage of mails and the keen interest of philatelists in the first flight letters was proved by the fact that over 9000 postal packets wore carried on the double trip between those two towns.