"TIN-CAN" MAIL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19372, 9 July 1937, Page 13

"TIN-CAN" MAIL

PHILATELISTS' CHANCE CALL AT NIUAFOOU Philatelists will be interested to learn that the Union Steam Ship Company's steamer Manuganui, which leaves Wellington on August 27 for a cruise to the South Sea Islands, will call off Niuafoou Island, affording an opportunity of obtaining '-Tin-Can" mail covers.

The island of Niuafoou, or "TinCan' 'lsland as it is often called, one of the Tongan Group, is a little volcanic island, about five miles in diameter, its whole centre being a crater lake surrounded by a ring of cliffs, from the top of which there is generally a steep fall to the sea. It has no harbour and usually has to depend for its mail on the infrequent visits of trading schooners. The natives come out in canoes to pick up the mail, which is put overboard in sealed cans, the outward mail from the island being hoisted on to the vessel by a line.

To get postmarks of the "Tin-Can" mail on envelopes these should be properly addressed to the intended recipient and sent under cover of another envelope addressed to the Union Steam Ship Company, Wellington, and marked on the outside "TinCan Mail."

Loose New Zealand stamps for Gd for each envelope to be postmarked—2Jd for the necessary Tongan stamp and the balance for the islanders' .services in handling the mail—must be enclosed and the packet should reach the Union Company before August 20. The envelopes should be of an adequate sixe to show off the postmarks satisfactorily, about Gin. wide by sin. deep. Delivery of Letters The envelopes will be landed at Niuafoou by the Maunganui through the "Tin-Can" mail, and after being dealt with they will be returned at a later opportunity. It may be two or three months before the letters reach the addressees, as apart from the infrequency of calls at the island, occasionally there is delay through the island's supply of Tongan postage stamps running out.

Besides the "Tin-Can" mail, Niuafoou has another claim to fame in its malau bird (Megapodius Prilchardi), which lays an egg out of all proportion to its size, the bird being about the size of a three or four months old fowl and the egg weighing three to four ounces. The egg is laid some 3ft. under the hot sand near the active volcanic craters or anywhere where the ground heat is approximately 78 degrees, and left to hatch. The young bird then emerges from the egg fully fledged and scratches its way to the surface. It needs no parental care, as it is able to fly and fend for itself almost immediately.