I have always had a close association with the Māori people. When I went to primary school at at Wakaretu where my parents farmed, this was a small district on the coast between Port Waikato and Raglan, west of Huntly and Ngaruawahia, New Zealand. The day I started school there were three Europeans at that school, and the day before I started, there was one. So, I grew up being very aware of Māori culture and their ways of life.
This exhibit shows through Picture Postcards, Maoritanga, or the culture of the Māori people. I have enjoyed putting this exhibit together, and look forward to extending it to 8 frames. I have a collection of approximately 1800 different Māori postcards, and am currently n the process of creating a database of Māori postcards with scans of both sides and an accurate description of the postcards with as much information that I can glean.
One potential future project is to use facial recognition technology to put names to more of the people depicted in postcards.
Any viewer with a collection of Māori postcards, I would like to make contact to see if any additional items can be added to the database.
This is an exhibit of Early New Zealand Railway Postcards which is being shown for the first time in Perth Stamp Show 2023. The postcards are mainly from the first two decades of the 20th Century.
The New Zealand Railways were an essential mode of transport for a developing nation. There were a number of problems associated with this in that the railway had to traverse the King Country which the Māori King Movement had been banished from the Waikato, and agreement had to be sought from the Māori people to build the railway. Also, the terrain was very difficult, and a number of world-class engineering problems had to be solved, including building the Raurimu Spiral, several large viaducts through the Central Plateau, and building the Rimutaka Incline.
I bought this item recently on E-bay. It is significant for two reasons.
Mail from New Zealand to the Far East WWII is scarce. Very few New Zealand people were in the Far East when the Japanese invaded, so mail is scarce. This item is to a British Civilian Internee from New Zealand.
The Japanese Red Cross roundel is scarce because with very few exceptions, it was used only only one batch of mail sent through Tokyo.
Welcome to this page! These are items that have been added to my collection which have a story of their own.
Maori Council Frank
I recently purchased a collection of stamps, postcards and this Maori Council Frank from a British Auction House.
The Maori Councils were originally set up in 1902 by the Government to control the “Health, Welfare and Moral well-being of Maori”. They operated at regional level, laying down rules of social control through bylaws which were valid in their own areas. They were partly funded by a “dog tax” imposed by the Government which was not universally acceptable. There were eventually 25 Maori Councils.
The Chairmen of the Maori Councils had “Free Frank” privileges, and could post letters and postcards without charge on official Maori Council business. The Maori Council Frank for their area was applied and signed by the Chairman. This is signed by Haparota Pore Pukekohatu.
Most surviving Maori Council Franks are cut-outs from covers and postcards.
Interestingly this item was featured in “The New Zealand Bulletin”, Campbell Paterson’s Newsletter, Volume XXIII, Number 12, July 1986. They state that “these franks, although actually of 20th century origin, must be among the scarcest of all N. Z. postal markings. No doubt because of their scarcity, reference information is very sketchy indeed”.
See Maoritanga, Frame 3, pages 3, 4 and 5 for other examples, and Council franks on cover and a postcard.
First Recorded Type 6 Officially Sealed Label on Cover
This cover was recently purchased on the internet. It is the first that I have seen on a cover, although there is the possibility of another reported by Andrew Dove.
The cover is registered from Mapua (Tasman Bay) to Dunedin. Postage and registration is paid with 4 x 1d Dominion stamps cancelled with 2 x “MAPUA 23 MR 26” G-class datestamps and one for the registration label. Label applied to bottom of cover, endorsed “torn” and initialed by two officers. The flap of the cover is also sealed with five selvedge pieces from a stamp sheet, one with part sheet number N58…
The Type 6 Officially Sealed label has Mail 76 (old No. P.O. 134) outside the frame of the label, bottom left.
The four other recorded Type 6 labels are undated. The challenge is to find more of these Type 6 labels on cover. While it is conjectured that these followed the type 5 labels, they are likely to be dated 1924. Because Mapua is a small Post Office, old supplies of labels were probably used.
Reference: “Post Office “Found Open – Officially Sealed Labels Part 3: 1903 – 1920 Types 4, 5 and 6 Labels” Alan Craig, Lindsay Chitty; The New Zealand Stamp Collector Vol. 97 Number 4, Dec. 2017.
Cover to meet the “Gripsholm”
When the USA entered WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, WWII, there was a need to repatriate diplomats, civilians caught in the Far East at the wrong time, and sick and wounded prisoners of war. The USA sent a message 8th December 1941 to the US Charge d’Affaires in Berne, Switzerland to start negotiations through their Tokyo Embassy. The result of this was that the M. V. Gripsholm (a vessel from neutral Sweden) was chartered by the USA for transfers of prisoners, mail and supplies. It was agreed that the first exchange would be at the neutral port of Lorenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique.
The Japanese had two exchange vessels. The M. V. Asama Maru left Yokohama with 416 repatriates, picking others up at Hong Kong and Saigon. The Conte Verde left Shanghai with 640 repatriates and picked others up at Singapore.
This cover was purchased in a lot of three, on E-bay. With the COVID-19 lock-down and disruption of international postage, the item was sent March 18th from the USA, with a transit time of 9 weeks.
This cover is addressed to Wilhelmina Kuyf who was a passenger with the first Diplomatic Exchange voyage leaving Lourenco Marques July 28th 1942 arriving New York August 25 1942. The passenger manifest lists her as United States Citizen. Her passport was issued Tientsin, China March 21 1941, recorded as a female aged 41.
Her address was recorded as 626 W. Allegheny Ave Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, the return address given on the cover.
The cover has a 3c USA adhesive with “PHILADELPHIA PA AUG 16 1942” slogan cancellation; Cover opened by Customs and resealed with brown tape; Purple boxed cachet “PORT of “NY” AUG 19 1942 Examined and passed “152” U.S. Customs Officer”.
I recently purchased a collection of stamps, postcards and this Maori Council Frank from a British Auction House.
The Maori Councils were originally set up in 1902 by the Government to control the “Health, Welfare and Moral well-being of Maori”. They operated at regional level, laying down rules of social control through bylaws which were valid in their own areas. They were partly funded by a “dog tax” imposed by the Government which was not universally acceptable. There were eventually 25 Maori Councils.
The Chairmen of the Maori Councils had “Free Frank” privileges, and could post letters and postcards without charge on official Maori Council business. The Maori Council Frank for their area was applied and signed by the Chairman. This is signed by Haparota Pore Pukekohatu.
Most surviving Maori Council Franks are cut-outs from covers and postcards.
Interestingly this item was featured in “The New Zealand Bulletin”, Campbell Paterson’s Newsletter, Volume XXIII, Number 12, July 1986. They state that “these franks, although actually of 20th century origin, must be among the scarcest of all N. Z. postal markings. No doubt because of their scarcity, reference information is very sketchy indeed”.
See Maoritanga, Frame 3, pages 3, 4 and 5 for other examples, and Council franks on cover and a postcard.
First Recorded Type 6 Officially Sealed Label on Cover
This cover was recently purchased on the internet. It is the first that I have seen on a cover, although there is the possibility of another reported by Andrew Dove.
The cover is registered from Mapua (Tasman Bay) to Dunedin. Postage and registration is paid with 4 x 1d Dominion stamps cancelled with 2 x “MAPUA 23 MR 26” G-class datestamps and one for the registration label. Label applied to bottom of cover, endorsed “torn” and initialed by two officers. The flap of the cover is also sealed with five selvedge pieces from a stamp sheet, one with part sheet number N58…
The Type 6 Officially Sealed label has Mail 76 (old No. P.O. 134) outside the frame of the label, bottom left.
The four other recorded Type 6 labels are undated. The challenge is to find more of these Type 6 labels on cover. While it is conjectured that these followed the type 5 labels, they are likely to be dated 1924. Because Mapua is a small Post Office, old supplies of labels were probably used.
Reference: “Post Office “Found Open – Officially Sealed Labels Part 3: 1903 – 1920 Types 4, 5 and 6 Labels” Alan Craig, Lindsay Chitty; The New Zealand Stamp Collector Vol. 97 Number 4, Dec. 2017.
M. V. Gripsholm Mail, Diplomatic Exchange Vessel, Far East WWII
When the USA entered WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, there was a need to repatriate diplomats, civilians caught in the Far East at the wrong time, and sick and wounded prisoners of war. The USA sent a message 8th December 1941 to the US Charge d’Affaires in Berne, Switzerland to start negotiations through their Tokyo Embassy. The result of this was that the M. V. Gripsholm (a vessel from neutral Sweden) was chartered by the USA for transfers of prisoners, mail and supplies.
It was agreed that the first exchange would be at the neutral port of Lorenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique. The Gripsholm carried approx. 1500 passengers. The Japanese used two vessels, the M. V. Asama Maru with 850 repatriates from Yokohama, Hong Kong Saigon and Singapore, and the Conte Verde from Shanghai and Singapore with 640.
The second voyage exchange was at the neutral port of Marmagao (Portuguese India). The Gripsholm carried 1513 from New York, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo, and the Teia Maru about 1500 from Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong, San Fernando (Philippines), Saigon and Singapore.
Items of mail from the first voyage are particularly scarce. There was little time from the end of the negotiations to the sailing of the ship from New York to advertise that mail would be carried. Tett records 10 known items of mail carried on the first voyage.
This 16 page exhibit is a new exhibit and has been entered into the Ausvipex 2020 virtual one frame exhibition for its first showing. I am pleased to say I gained a Gold award with 86 points.
This hand-drawn cover was recently purchased on e-Bay.
It is sent by S. P. Hamilton, 1717 Petre St., Christchurch, New Zealand to the United States of America. It has a Shirley 17 AU 45 G-class datestamp. The cover has a manuscript CCC29 on the front.
News of the Japanese surrender arrived in New Zealand at 11 a.m. on Wednesday 15 August, to widespread celebrations of this welcome news.
I have not seen illustrated covers of this sort before. Can anyone throw some light on the person who has done this?
Repatriation Mail, Japanese Occupation of the Far East WWII 1942 – 46
This is the beginning of a collection of interesting Postal History items. They are the irregular use of stamps and other items for the prepayment of postage. In most cases, Postage Due or Tax was incurred.
