http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk JANUARY 2016^25Your monthly guide to specialist stamps, stamp-related material and postal ephemeraWithout access to google or Wikipedia, many non-stamp collectors will
be hard pressed to give a geographical location for the New Hebrides
even though this group of islands in the Coral Sea was named by
Captain Cook in 1774; and that the name survived into the 1980s.
Its modern identity – Vanuatu – is equally unfamiliar to non-stampers,
as is the region’s postal history, which we can trace from the 1890s when
stamps of New South Wales were widely used throughout the islands.
In that decade the Australasian New Hebrides Company ran a steamer
service that linked Australia to several of the islands in the group,
carrying mails, cargoes and passengers. In 1892 the New South Wales
Post Office awarded the company a small contract worth £50 a year
to carry mails to and from Sydney. Running costs and other overheads
gradually outstripped the profitability of the contract, to the extent that
in 1897 the company had to issue 1d and 2d local stamps for use as
supplementary charges on all mail carried on their vessels. Rates were
1d per half-ounce on letters; 1d per four ounces on packets; and 1d per
eight ounces on parcels. When used on mail between Sydney and the
islands covers required additional New South Wales stamps. For local
mails around the New Hebrides company stamps sufficed.
The stamps were well designed: a vignette showing a view of the New
Hebrides capital (Vila) with the company’s headquarters prominently
displayed. Litho printed in Sydney using black and magenta inks for
the 1d ; blue and brown for the 2d; the print runs yielded 240,000
penny and 120,000 twopenny in rouletted sheets.
The mail handling side of the business seems to have turned a profit;
but heavy losses with other operations forced the company to sell
out in 1897. The new owners – Burns Philp & Co – kept the mails
running smoothly, and in 1900 were rewarded with a generous subsidy
of £3,600 from the New South Wales government. It came with a
strict condition that all local stamps must be withdrawn. Burns Philp
accepted those terms and sold all unused locals to collectors, and later
the entire remainder to the philatelic trade.e Australasian New
Hebrides Company
CINDERELLAS It was quite fitting that
the first static Post & Go
kiosk was installed at the
British Postal Museum and
Archive (BPMA), writes
Stuart Leigh. It was one
of the original Hytech V2,
also known as Royal Mail
Series I machine, designated
A1. The kiosk was
commissioned and became
operational on 3 December,
2012, dispensing Machin
and the Christmas Robin,
the Union Flag replaced
the Robin in the new year. The following Christmas the Robin
returned with underprint ‘MA13’.
Machine A1 was eventually replaced by the latest Royal Mail
Series II kiosk A001, on 24 March, 2014, only to be upgraded
to A001+ with the addition of a pod bolted to the side of the
machine giving the unit the capability of issuing stamps from a
total of four reels, from 21 October, 2014.
The kiosk has the location identifier ‘The B.P.M.A.’ and has
had numerous additional overprints, as follows:- To celebrate the centenary of the ‘Postage Due 1914’
- To commemorate the start of ‘Inland Airmail 1934 + Airmail logo’
- To honour 200th anniversary of Anthony Trollope ‘Trollope
200 + Postbox logo’ - For 175th anniversary of the ‘Penny Black175
- Maltese Cross logo’
The BPMA kiosk always has the option to dispense the
Machin Post & Go stamp, a 2nd Class option, either the blue
Machin or one of the Christmas issues (Winter Greenery or
Fur & Feathers), and for Remembrance Day in November, the
Poppy. Also, it is the only available machine, outside of the
international exhibitions, where the ‘solo’ Heraldic Lion has
been available.Post & Go at
the BPMA
POST & GO
Australiasian New Hebrides Co Ltd 2d blue and brownp24 Sidelines.indd 25 23/11/2015 14:06