1931 Airmails
Airmail stamps may have been issued sooner if early postal delivery trials
by air within New Zealand had been more successful. However, in 1922 it was
concluded that the aircraft in use were unsuited to long distance flights
and the trial service was not well patronised by the public.
It was
overseas developments which prompted the 1931 issue. At the Universal
Postal Union Convention in 1929, an international agreement was drawn up
where mail that was posted in New Zealand could utilise airmail services in
Australia, Canada, North America and the Karachi-London service. This
agreement came into force in July 1930.
Surcharging the threepence
King George V stamp for airmail services was considered but this was
abandoned in favour of a new issue for mail flown over part of its route
abroad.
Bibliography
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand (Volume I) |
Edited by R. J. G. Collins and H. T. M. Fathers B.A. B.Sc. | Published 1938 by The Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated | Pages 447 - 457, 594 |
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