The dies and plates of the 1944, 1945 and 1948 Health issues were prepared and printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson while the 1946 and 1947 issues were prepared and printed by Waterlow. The values in each case were 1d and 2d postage and ½d and 1d health.

The 1945, 1946 and 1947 designs were by J. Berry.

1944

Each plate consisted of 120 stamps in 10 rows of 12. The perforation was 13.5.

The date of issue had been planned for 2 October, but was delayed for a week to 9 October in order not to clash with the Victory Loan campaign.

The 1d plate number was 1 and the 2d plate number was 2.

The portraits were copied from photographs taken by Dorothy Wilding Ltd. Princess Elizabeth is in the uniform of the Sea Rangers while Princess Margaret is in the uniform of the Girl Guides.

Official First Day Cover, 9 October 1944

The first official illustrated first day cover had been produced in 1935, and since then many different illustrated first day covers had been produced by various organisations. From 1941, covers produced by the Federation of Health Camps were available free of charge.

In 1944, 150,000 official covers were produced by the Federation and were available free at all post offices to purchasers of the health stamps on the opening day. For the first time these covers were designated as Official Souvenir Covers.

This example is postmarked in Wellington on the first day of issue and is addressed to New York.

First Day Cover

Cover with the original issue date of 2 October which has been scored out and replaced with the new date of 9 October. The cover also exists in blue.

It was postmarked in Palmerston North and is addressed to USA.

The cover was produced by Sidney Wilkes, the proprietor of the Pinnacle Stamp Company in Timaru.

First Day Cover

This cover was postmarked in Timaru on the first day of issue and is addressed to the USA.

It contains a quote from Douglas William Jerrold (1803 - 1857) who was a British dramatist. The quotation has appeared on several health camp covers, the earliest that I have seen being 1936.

First Day Cover

This cover was postmarked in Timaru on the first day of issue and is addressed locally. It contains a quote from the bible.

Versions of this cover also exist with the printing of First Day of Issue further to the left.

A similar cover was produced in 1936.

First Day Cover

This cover was postmarked in Christchurch on the first day of issue and is addressed to South Africa.

It has the correct printed date on the cover and is illustrated by a simplistic design of stamps.

Re-opening of Otaki Health Camp, 12 January 1945

In 1932, the Otaki Health Camp north of Wellington became the first Health Camp that had its own permanent buildings. However, due to pressure on medical beds during the war, it was used for geriatric patients from local hospitals who had been displaced to make way for injured service personnel.

The Otaki Health Camp was re-opened on 12 January 1945. A special cover, a variant of the official first day cover (with Official Souvenir Cover replaced by Re-opening Otaki Health Camp, January 1945), was produced and a temporary post office was set up at the Camp so that covers, like this one, could be postmarked with the the Otaki Health Camp postmark on 12 January.

1945

For both values, the plate numbers were A1, A2, B1 and B2 although the 2d from plate B2 is uncommon and from plate A2 is very uncommon.

Each plate consisted of 120 stamps in 12 rows of 10. The perforation was 13.5.

Previously, Health stamps had not been available for revenue purposes such as the stamping of receipts, but that changed with the 1945 issue onwards.

1945 Official First Day Cover

Example of the Official Souvenir Cover postmarked in Wellington on first day of issue and produced by the Federation of Health Camps.

It is addressed to Australia.

Postmarked November 1945: 1945 Health Stamps

In November 1945, the New Zealand Post Office approved John Dickenson & Co. to manufacture airmail letter cards [1]. Previously, they had always been produced officially. The inscription was now Air Mail Letter Form.

This card is postmarked in New Zealand on 8 November and was addressed to a member of the armed forces and so is correctly franked with 6d. It has no censor markings.

It was redirected in the UK 9 days later at the New Zealand Army Base P.O. UK on 17 November 1945. The new route across the Indian Ocean was therefore able to provide a faster service than the pre-war Empire route via Singapore.

Opening of Pakuranga Health Camp, 10 December 1949

A new permanent health camp, funded by the King George V Memorial Fund, was opened in Pakuranga near Auckland on 10 December 1949.

A temporary post office was set up on the opening day and this is one of the covers that was postmarked there. An official souvenir cover was produced and many, like this one, were franked with the 1945 health stamps.

1946

No plate numbers appeared on the printed sheets. It appears that one frame plate was used for each value while two centre plates were used and both were used in the printing of both values.

Each plate consisted of 120 stamps in 15 rows of 8. The perforation was 13.5.

Glenelg Health Camp

The permanent Glenelg Health Camp was opened in April 1945 and a temporary post office was set up there on the first day of issue of the 1946 Health stamps on 24 October 1946.

This cover is franked with the Glenelg Health Camp postmark used on that day and shows a picture of the Health Camp which was near Christchurch. It was administered by the Sunlight League Health Camp Committee who had been running health camps in the Christchurch area since 1931.

This cover was produced by Jack RR Richards of Christchurch and sold through the Christchurch Cover Collectors Club for 1s 6d per dozen [2].

1946 Official First Day Cover

Example of the use of the Official Souvenir Cover postmarked in Wellington on the first day of issue and addressed to Australia.

It was produced by the Federation of Health Camps and was available at all main post offices. The Stamps Branch offered to process first day covers for overseas clients with a handling charge of 1d.

1946 First Day Cover

Cover postmarked on the first day of issue.

It was produced by Pim & Co. of Auckland who were Stamp Dealers and Philatelic Publishers. They were sold for 1s 6d per dozen [2].

1947

No plate numbers appeared on the printed sheets, but two plates were used for each value. The numbers 43443 and 43444 appeared on the 1d plates and 43445 and 43446 on the 2d, but were trimmed from the issued sheets.

Each plate consisted of 96 stamps in 8 rows of 12. The perforation was 13.5.

As the Health stamps were now available for revenue purposes, with the 1947 issue they were inscribed: Postage Revenue rather than just Postage. That continued up to the 1951 issue. After that they were no longer available for revenue purposes.

Sheet values

After some of the sheets had already been dispatched, it was decided that the value of the sheet should be added to subsequent sheets. Hence Twelve shillings was added in the top two corner selvedges of the sheet for the 1d value and £1/4/0 for the 2d value.

It was then decided to issue half sheets of the stamps and the value Six shillings and Twelve shillings respectively were printed on the top or bottom corner selvedges depending on whether it was the top or bottom half sheet. Quarter sheets of the 1d were then issued with Three shillings in the corner selvedge. Various examples are shown below.

1947 First Day Cover

Example of the use of the Official Souvenir Cover postmarked in Wellington on the first day of issue and addressed to USA.

It was produced by the Federation of Health Camps and was available at all post offices from 22 September. The Stamps Branch offered to process first day covers for overseas clients with a handling charge of 1d, but required orders to be received by 15 September.

First day cover postmarked in Wigram on the first day of issue and sent to the UK by airmail.

The cover was produced by Eric R Steel of The Stamp Shop, Christchurch. It was designed and engraved by Jim Hanna and printed by Somerset Printing Co. The price was 1s 6d per dozen [2].

It is franked with 1s 0d (there is 6d postage on the reverse of the cover) and there is a "To Pay 1/-" handstamp on the front as the required airmail rate was 1s 6d. (The required payment was always double the deficient postage.)

It seems possible that the sender believed that the 6d health surcharge would count towards postage.

First day cover postmarked at the special post office set up at Glenelg Health Camp on 1 October and addressed to Christchurch.

It uses surplus stock of the 1946 cover showing Glenelg Health Camp produced by Jack RR Richards with the date 1946 covered over and 1947 printed twice above.

Postmarked October 1947: 1947 Health Stamps

This registered cover shows the 1947 Health stamps and is postmarked in Dunedin on 1 October 1948 and flown to the USA where it was backstamped in San Francisco on 8 October and in Columbia (Louisiana) on 10 October.

It is franked with 3s 4d. The airmail rate to USA by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) had been reduced on 3 June 1947 from 2s 6d to 1s 6d per ½ oz and so this cover has the franking for an overweight cover flown by BCPA plus 4d registration fee. BCPA is written in pencil below the registration label. Although BCPA flew to Vancouver it had a stop at San Francisco.

The airmail rate by the Pan American service was 2s 0d. and, if they wished a cover to be flown by Pan Am, the public were asked to endorse envelopes with By Pan American Air Service.

1948

For both values, the plate numbers were A1, A2, B1 and B2. Each plate consisted of 120 stamps in 10 rows of 12. The perforation was 13.5.

3,250 sheets of the 1d value were issued on the paper used for Tokelau Islands stamps. The majority of the 1d and all the 2d stamps were printed on Wiggens, Teape paper.

Official First Day Cover

Official first day cover postmarked on first day of issue: 1 October 1948 in Te Awamutu and addressed locally. It was produced by the Federation of Health Camps and was available at all post offices from 24 September.

The Stamps Branch offered to process first day covers for overseas clients with a handling charge of 1½d, but required orders to be received by 15 September.

First Day Cover

First day cover postmarked on first day of issue: 1 October 1948 and with that date inscribed on the cover. Sent to UK.

Cover shows a map with the locations of the permanent health camps: Roxburgh, Glenelg, Nelson, Otaki, Gisborne, Pakuranga and Maunu.

First Day Cover

First day cover postmarked in Dunedin on first day of issue: 1 October 1948 and addressed to San Francisco. Its design is copied, with some changes, from the official Health Federation cover.

First Day Cover

First day cover postmarked on first day of issue: 1 October 1948 and addressed to San Francisco.

It was designed by James Stapleton, "Jason", Christchurch and printed by EA Jordon of Christchurch.

First Day Cover

First day cover postmarked on first day of issue: 1 October 1948 at Glenelg Health Camp and addressed to Christchurch.

It was designed by Jim Hanna, Christchurch and printed by Dave Hanna of Christchurch.

First Day Cover

First day cover postmarked on first day of issue: 1 October 1948 at Glenelg Health Camp and addressed to Christchurch.

It was designed by Herbert Layton, Christchurch.

First Day Cover

First day cover postmarked on first day of issue: 1 October 1948 at Glenelg Health Camp and addressed to Christchurch.

First Day Cover

First day cover postmarked on first day of issue: 1 October 1948 at Glenelg Health Camp and addressed to Christchurch.

It was designed by Len Johns, Christchurch.

Postmarked October 1948: 1948 Health Stamps

This registered cover shows the 1948 Health stamps and is postmarked on 15 October 1948 and addressed to Kent where it was backstamped on 25 October.

The airmail rate from New Zealand to the UK had been reduced from 1s 6d to 1s 3d on 4 October 1948 and so this is an early example of the new rate. The registration fee was 4d.

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The above information is taken from:
[1] The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Vol 2, published by the Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand in 1950.
[2] Illustrated First Day Covers of New Zealand 1933-2000, Part 1: Health, Stephen Jones, July 2008.
All scans were made by the author.

Back to: New Zealand Stamp Images