Series 4 new zealand philatelic bulletin no 33 1985 april

April 1985 Issue 33.

~ [CB]Philatelic

~WZEALAND

POST OFFICE PHILATELIC

Philatelic Bulletin Bulletin philatelique Philatelistische Nachrichten

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Presentation Pack

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First Day Covers Pictured on the cover of the Vintage Transport Presentation Pack released on March 20, 1985, is a 1905 Christchurch electric tram, from the 58c stamp.

Many of these trams were locally built and featured interior panels of mottled kauri. The imported cars had maple panels.

Large spring-loaded fenders mounted front and rear protected cyclists and pedestrians.

Heaters under the wooden seats provided additional comfort to passengers.

The trams usually towed a trailer, either single or double deck.

The pack, containing the six stamps, costs $3.50 and is available at any Post Office or Philatelic Sales Centre or by mail order from the Philatelic Bureau, Private Bag, Wanganui.

NEW ZEALAND

MILIt

~ HISTOUY

Two different-sized First Day Covers were made available for the New Zealand Military History stamp issue released on November 7, 1984.

The smaller cover is of the conventional size - 210 mm across by 120 mm down. It holds the set of four stamps and features the New Zealand Army crest.

First used in 1949, the crest is a replica of the British Army crest with the addition of "NZ" under the crown.

The larger cover - 230 mm across by 160 mm down - holds the miniature sheet and features the New Zealand Cross above the

New Zealand Army crest.

Only 23 New Zealand Crosses were ever awarded, making it one of the rarest decorations in the world Instituted by Governor Sir George Bowen in 1869, without the authority of Queen Victoria, it was conferred on men of the Armed Constabulary, the militia and volunteers serving in the Second New Zealand War (1860-72). At that time New Zealand servicemen were ineligible for the Victoria Cross.

The covers were designed by Maurice Conly, who also designed the New Zealand Military History stamps.

Hiah-value Definitives Two of New Zealand's endangered native birds are the subject of new high-value definitive stamps to be issued on April 24, 1985.

Featuring the Kokako ($1) and the Black Robin ($2), the stamps were designed by well known bird painter Janet E. Marshall, of Stratford.

These stamps will be replacing the Scallop ($1) and the Circular Saw ($2) of the seashell series, issued in 1979, which will be withdrawn on April 23, 1985.

New Zealand has a lamentable history of extinct birds. Some 45 species, including 24 species of moa, became extinct before 1800. Since the arrival of Europeans, New Zealand has seen the disappearance of eight species and six sub-species.

A further 23 birds are so reduced in number and distribution that they are now internationally recognised as endangered.

New Zealand has the highest number of endangered birds of any single country in the world. We also have the dubious distinction of possessing the world's rarest bird - the Chatham Island Black Robin.

The Black Robin is about 16 cm long, and feeds on a range of grubs and insects. Smaller than its New Zealand mainland cousins, the Black Robin nests in sheltered hollow logs or branches, laying two eggs during October or November.

The Black Robin has been the subject of a great deal of attention by the Wildlife Service. With a total popUlation of 20 individuals, the birds were confined to the small and precipitous Little Mangere Island, in the Chathams group, about 850 kilometres from the New Zealand mainland.

In 1976, the Wildlife Service re- established the group on nearby Mangere Island, after planting 150,000 trees in an effort to rejuvenate the habitat.

More recently, a small section of the community was transferred to SouthEast Island (Rangitira Island). Twelve birds have now been established there for the past two years.

The Kokako illustrated on the $1 stamp is the North Island variety.

Stamp Collection

Stamp Designer, Lindy Fisher Less is more for stamp designer, Lindy Fisher. Designing stamps is a real challenge, says Auckland graphic designer, Lindy Fisher.

"Because a stamp is so small you see the whole of it at a ~Iance and all the elements of the design have to balance perfectly".

Lindy, who became one of the youngest members of the Post Office panel of stamp designers after winning fifth place in the 1981 Stamp Designer Competition, says the other essential element for her is simplicity.

"The space is so small, you can't put in a lot of different elements as they would each lose some of their significance."

"I think the main thing is to include as little material as possible, just the essentials, then give each statement as much prominence as possible so you say what you have to say and leave it at that. It sounds easy, but the most difficult decision is often 'what can I leave out' rather than 'what shall I include'''.

Lindy designed the set of stamps issued in January this year commemorating the centenary of the St John Ambulance. She says the concept of balance and simplicity guided her in the final design. "If each element was vying with the other for importance your eye would get confused".

The final result is indeed balanced and looks misleadingly simple.

"Some people will look at the St John stamps and think, 'Gosh that can't have taken very long to do'''.

But there's an enormous amount of

groundwork to achieve that simpiicity.

For the St John stamps, Lindy researched a range of aspects of the organisation - its work, the uniform, vehicles, training - before she decided what to include in the stamps.

Even the crest required research.

She soon realised that no two St John crests were the same and settled which was correct by consulting the New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary. Lindy says about two thirds of the time she spent on the stamps went into research and eliminating ideas.

Once she starts on the design she works in the actual stamp size.

"When I've done all my research and have all the possibilities set out in front of me I start trying to put them down visually, just on tiny little pieces of paper with fine felt tips and coloured pencils and fine paintbrushes.

I draw them and cut them out and hold them in my hand to see what they look like on their

own. Once I've settled on an idea, then I work out the design completely".

At this stage she transfers the design to a larger size and completes all the details. She also pays a lot of attention to the lettering on the stamp.

Lindy became a stamp designer almost by accident when she was completing a degree in fine arts at Auckland University. One of her tutors set her an assignment to design a set of postage stamps and she did a set depicting New Zealand's natural energy resources.

Her husband saw a notice about the competition and along with her fellow students, encouraged her to enter ... later she was awarded fifth place.

She hopes to make room in her life to spend some time painting for herself in the future. "Painting is of course very different from designing stamps because it is so much bigger. The brushes can be ten times the size.

You can get tense and frustrated working on stamps. Because they are so small, you're concentrating on one tiny area and ypur work space is restricted, bu! wt1en\painting you are able t~se-your who\e arm with a greater sense of freedom ... even reckless abandon. It's Very relaxing.

Stamp designing is however most gratifying. When the design is solved you can sit back and think'iYes, I'm Pleaseiith that', and look\forward to seein one come on an eQvelope in the m 'Ibox'~ -

Six hardy trees that grow in the poor soil of the Tokelau Islands are the SUbject of a stamp issue to be released on June 26.

The trees are seen in the background of the stamps, with their leaves and fruit in the foreground.

The 5c stamp shows the mati, the 18c the nonu, the 32c the ulu, the 48c the fala, the 60c the kanava and the 75c the niu.

Designed by Mr R M. Conly of Waikanae, the stamps were printed

by Wyatt and Wilson of Christchurch, by lithography.

This will be the first stamp contract awarded to a New Zealand printer, other than the Government Printing Office.

Sc stamp mati The mati, seen on the 5c, is a shrublike tree with widespreading branches. It produces an orangecoloured fruit - a type of fig - which grows in clusters down the trunk.

Though the fruit can be cooked in a gruel, it is not eaten very often. l8c stamp Nonu Tokelau's middle island, Nukunonu, means land of the nonu - the tree depicted on the 18c stamp. Its fruit is very bitter and rarely eaten today.

Instead, it is crushed with the flower to make medicines.

32c stamp ulu The breadfruit tree, or ulu, depicted on the 32c stamp is an important source of food, which can be served in many ways.

The broad-leafed trees are rarely cut down, although the wood makes good building material.

48c stamp 1ala Second only in importance to the coconut is the palm-like fala on the 48c stamp. It has kernels and a fleshy pineapple-shaped fruit that are edible in some varieties.

Colourful and fragrant necklaces are made from the fruit's woody sections and the tiny white flowers of the male tree can be used to scent coconut oil.

The leaves are excellent for plaiting mats and baskets and providing thatch for houses. Fala is a very hard wood and even the roots and bark are used in building.

Ulu

60c stamp kanava On the 60c stamp is the kanava, a shade tree which was spoken of in ancient legends. It can grow to 18 metres high. A member of the heliotrope family, the kanava has bright orange flowers. Its round green fruit turn black at maturity and are seldom eaten.

Kanava provides the best carving timber for canoes. The carver shapes the heartwood into a jigsaw sewn together with coconut rope. The pieces fit together so tightly that no caulking is necessary.

The beautifully grained and coloured timber is also used to make paddles, boxes and other carved objects.

7Sc stamp niu Featured on the 75c stamp is the most important tree on the atolls, the niu - or coconut - a tall palm tree with long fronds and flowers in large branching clusters.

A hardy species, the niu is a vital part of the Tokelauan way of life, supplying food, timber, fuel, rope, garments, cosmetics, handicrafts and utensils, as well as copra Tokelau's only export crop.

The stamps are vertical and are printed in sheets of 50.

First Day Covers, also designed by Mr Conly, will cost $2.48 and can be ordered by completing a special order form available at all Post Offices and sending it to the Philatelic Bureau, Private Bag, Wanganui, between April 25 and June 26, 1985.

Plate/imprint, positional or value blocks may be obtained by purchasing at least six stamps of all denominations.

The stamps are available in New Zealand only from the Philatelic Bureau, Wanganui (mail orders), and the Philatelic Sales Centres at Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, Rotorua, and Wellington.

They will remain on sale until December3, 1985. The stamps are not valid for postage in New Zealand.

Health The 1985 New Zealand Health Stamp issue, to be released on July 31, will feature members of the Royal Family.

The Princess of Wales with Prince William (born June 22, 1982) feature on one 25 cent plus 2 cent stamp, and the Princess and Prince Henry (born September 15, 1984) feature on the other 25 cent plus 2 cent stamp.

These are printed se-tenant. The 35 cent plus 2 cent stamp depicts the Prince and Princess of Wales with both Princes William and Henry.

Don Little of Auckland completed the graphics for all three Health stamps using recent photographs by Lord Snowdon, a noted photographer of the Royal Family.

The connection between royalty and the children's health camps goes back to 1939, when the movement was named the King George V Memorial Children's Health Camps Federation. Lady Beattie, wife of the New Zealand Governor-General, Sir David Beattie, is the present-day patron.

Seven camps currently operate around the country. The latest was opened in Rotorua on April 23, 1983, and is named the Princess of Wales Health Camp.

The Rotorua camp admitted its first children in January, 1983. It is modern and spacious and has a school at1ached, as well as gardens, a playing area outside the school, an indoor swimming pool and an orchard.

The Princess of Wales was asked to lend her name to the camp because of her known love of children. She wrote to the board saying how pleased she was to receive the request.

"From my experience as a kindergarten teacher in London I know only too well of the needs of children in their early years, and the importance of such basic requirements as good health, security and stable family life if children are to develop and ultimately reach their true potential.

Unfortunately not all children enjoy these benefits and it is to the credit of the health camp movement that it provides care and support for these children throughout New Zealand. I am therefore very pleased to lend my

patronage to such a cause".

The Rotorua health camp was in fact opened during the Prince and Princess of Wales' recent tour of New Zealand. However, the tour did not include a visit to Rotorua.

The Princess' letter was read out at the opening and is now framed in the hall.

Other health camps are at Maunu (Whangarei), Papakura, Gisborne, Otaki, Glenelg (Christchurch) and Roxburgh.

The aim of the health camps is to foster improved physical and mental health. When the health camp movement began in 1919, physical health problems were the main reason for admission, but more recently social and behavioural reasons have become more prevalent.

The first health stamps were issued in 1929 and these carried penny postage and a penny su rcharge devoted to financing health camps.

Today the sale of health stamps contributes 4.5 per cent of the Board's income. The operation of the camps is funded principally by Government grants.

All three of the 1985 health stamps are vertical in format and measure 30mm x 35mm. They were printed

by Cambec Press Pty Ltd, Melbourne.

Australia, using lithography.

They are produced in sheets of 100 stamps (10 rows of 10). Plate/imprint positional or value blocks may be obtained by purchasing at least six stamps of all denominations.

First Day Covers, designed by Don Little of Auckland, will cost $1.05.

Orders may be made on a special form available at Post Offices from June 13 to July 31, 1985.

Covers may be purchased over the counter at Chief Post Offices and selected Post Offices from July 31, 1985, until August 9, 1985, inclusive.

Orders for First Day Covers close at the Philatelic Bureau, Private Bag, Wanganui, on July 31,1985.

Unless stocks are exhausted earlier, these stamps will remain on sale at Post Offices until September 17, 1985, and at the Philatelic Bureau, Private Bag, Wanganui (mail orders) and Philatelic Sales Centres until June 30, 1986.

Scenic Some notable New Zealand bridges are the subject of the 1985 Scenic stamp issue to be released on June 12. Two of the stamps feature South Island bridges across the Shotover River (35c) and at Alexandra (40c), while the other two bridges, South Rangitikei rail bridge (45c) and Twin Bridges (70c) are in the North Island.

Designer, Robert Freeman of Auckland, completed the graphic artwork for the stamps using photographs supplied by the National Publicity Studios (Shotover and Alexandra bridges) and Post Office Public Relations Division (South Rangitikei Rail Bridge and Twin Bridges). The issue was printed by Helio Courvoisier SA in Switzerland using photogravure.

Construction of roads and bridges began in the 1840s, shortly after the arrival of the first European settlers in New Zealand. The first section of railway line opened in 1863, and by 1880 most of the main lines of communication were complete. Many bridges were built in a huge programme of public works between 1870 and 1880 and there was another massive building programme in the 1960s when many of the earlier bridges had to be strengthened or replaced.

The road bridge across the Shotover River in Central Otago (35c) was described at its opening in 1975 as "mathematical precision combined with beautiful form". Both these elements, engineering skill and aesthetics, played their part in the design of the bridge which is on a route serving the important tourist area of Queenstown and the Southern Lakes.

The two-lane carriageway is 320 metres long and is made up of 169 pre-cast, pre-tensioned concrete box girder sections that were made in Dunedin and then transported to the bridge site by rail and road. Each section was lifted into place by a 50 tonne crane and had to meet its mate exactly.

Work was made doubly difficult by the extreme Central Otago weather when freezing temperatures in winter and searing heat in summer

combined to affect the materials in the bridge. Temperature recorders were actually built into the structure to provide data on these weather conditions and how they affect the bridge during its lifetime.

Many of the original nineteenth century New Zealand bridges were built in wrought iron and timber and it was noticed that in the dry air of Central Otago the wrought iron hardly corroded, even when unpainted. As a result, steel was the chosen material for many new bridges, including one built over the Clutha River at Alexandra (40c) in 1958 to replace a bridge built in 1882.

Bridging the river at Alexandra was never an easy proposition. The Clutha is the longest river in the South Island and is reputed to carry the greatest volume of water.

Spanning some 158 metres, the new tied-steel arch bridge incorporated some special design features. It is anchored to one abutment by means of a hinge and there are bearings, or rollers, on the other abutment and all the piers that allow the bridge to freely expand and contract. The reinforced concrete deckslab is also designed with expansion joints so the deck can "breathe" with temperature changes.

The South Rangitikei rail bridge (45c) forms part of the main trunk railway line north of Mangaweka in the central North Island. It is rugged landscape, scarred with deep gorges that presented many challenges for bridge builders.

Flash floods that sometimes sweep down without warning from the high country had to be taken into account in the bridge design. So did earthquakes which are a constant threat in this area. The South Rangitikei bridge is able to move in the event of an earthquake the legs of the high, slender piers are designed to alternately lift off their foundations.

Construction of the 315 metre continuous span was halted in 1975 when the second of six sections collapsed 80 metres into the river below. Work was restarted in 1980

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and the bridge was completed the following year. It sUbsequently won an environmental design award.

An unusual bridge located at the confluence of the Mangakahia and Awarua Rivers in Whangarei County, Northland, is the subject of the fourth new stamp. Twin Bridges (70c) takes its name from two bridges built there in the 1920s. These were replaced in 1970 by a single reinforced concrete structure, but the name remains.

A feature of the new bridge is a 19 metre landing which branches off to give access to farm land which would otherwise be isolated by the convolutions of the two rivers. The bridge is on a sealed road which passes through rolling, fertile volcanic land, steep hill country and generally attractive rural New Zealand scenery. Twin Bridges is 27 km from Kaikohe and with its clear water bubbling around rounded river boulders shaded by native trees, it makes a pleasant picnic spot.

Stamps Available Stamps are available by mail order from the Philatelic Bureau, Wanganui or over the counter from Philatelic Sales Centres at Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, Hamilton, Rotorua and Gisborne.

"ARMS" (Set $28.00) $4, $6, $8, $10.

DEFINITIVES (Set $11.99) 1c, 2c, 3c, 4c, 5c, 6c: 7c: 8c: 9c, 10c, 15c, 20c, 24c: 25c: 30c, 35c:40c, 45c, 50c,60c,$1,$2,$5. ('to be withdrawn 28June 1985 and replaced by 25c and 35c 'Royal' stamps) GOVERNMENT LIFE INSURANCE (Set $1.55) 5c, 10c, 20c, 30c, 40c, 50c.

ROSS DEPENDENCY (Set $1.55) 5c, 10c, 20c, 30c, 40c, 50c.

TOKELAU DEFINITIVES (Set $4.99) 1s, 2s, 5s, 9s, 23s, 34s, 50s, 75s, $1, $2.

WITHDRAWALS 30 April 1985 -

New Zealand Involvement in Antarctica (Set $1 .92) 24c, 40c, 58~, 70c, miniature sheet $1.92.

30 April 1985 -

Vintage Transport (Set $1.92) 24c, 40c, 58c, 70c.

11 June 1985 -

1984 Scenic (Set $1.90) 35c, 40c, 45c, 70c.

28 June 1985 -

Roses 6c, 7c, 8c (released 26.11.75). NZ "Map" 24c. Maori Chief Portraits 25c, 35c.

30 June 1985 -

1984 Health (Set 84c) 24c + 2c, 24c + 2c, 30c + 2c, miniature sheet $1.68.

30 June 1985 31 July 1985 -

1984 Christmas (Set 98c) 18c, 35c, 45c.

Endangered Animal Wildlife (Set $2.06) 24c, 24c, 30c, 58c, 70c.

First Day Cover