The first health stamp was issued in 1929 and there has been an annual issue ever since.
Both the 1929 and 1930 plates were produced by etching and contained 80 stamps in 8 horizontal rows. The stamps were printed at the Government Printing Office, watermarked NZ and star and perforated 14.
The two issues are similar with the 1929 issue inscribed Help stamp out tuberculosis while the 1930 issue has Help promote health.
In these issues, the 1d surcharge is denoted Charity. From 1932 onwards this was changed to Health.
This was the first time that the cost of a New Zealand postage stamp was greater than its postal value. This required a special clause to be added to the 1929 Finance Act. The extra charge went towards supporting health camps.
Dates:
- 1929 issued 11 Dec 1929, withdrawn 28 Feb 1930; reissued 5 Dec 1930, withdrawn 28 Feb 1931
- 1930 issued 29 Oct 1930, withdrawn 28 Feb 1931
Numbers sold:
- 1929: 592,848
- 1930: 215,543
Fiftieth anniversary
The fiftieth issue of health stamps was in 1978 and, to celebrate this, the 10c value depicted the original issue of 1929. It was printed in sheets of 100 by Harrison and, along with a 12c value, in miniature sheets of 6.
They were issued on 2 August 1978 and remained on sale until
30 June 1979.
Three million 10c stamps were printed in large sheets
and there were 275,000 miniature sheets.
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The above information is taken from The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Vol 1, published by the Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand in 1938. All scans were made by the author.