This issue commemorates the 100th anniversary of New Zealand's first pre-paid postage stamps.

The 2d stamp shows a Maori mail runner - the first means of overland mail delivery in New Zealand. Mail runners often had to cross difficult terrain and swim treacherous rivers to deliver the mail.

The 4d stamp shows the extent of progress in the first 100 years with a DC3 with the National Airways Corporation insignia alluding to airmail delivery.

The 3d stamp echoes the background of the first stamps of 1855 with Queen Elizabeth's coronation portrait replacing the Chalon portrait of Queen Victoria in her coronation robes.

The stamps were issued on the 18th of July 1955 - 100 years to the day after the issue of New Zealand's first stamps.