1929 Health Issue.

This issue can be viewed in our Health Stamp Collection

Health Stamps - Part One (1929 - 1930)

                          

The First Health Stamp.                                        Dr Elizabeth Gunn.

                                                                                 (1969 Health Issue.)

         The story of this issue begins much earlier on the 25th November 1919 when a Wanganui School Medical Officer, Dr Elizabeth Gunn, took 55 children to a farm near Marton, where they camped for three weeks under canvas. The camp was a great success so she continued with these camps each year up until 1930. Others around New Zealand took up the idea as well which became the beginning of Health Camps in New Zealand.

         These Health Camps required funding and a recent immigrant from Denmark remembered that the issuing of stamps in her own country was successful in raising funds to build a hospital for children suffering from tuberculosis. She took up the challenge of campaigning for the same idea here in New Zealand. Records show that Cabinet considered the idea on 19th July 1927. Discussions then took place between the Post Office and the Health Department as to which organisations should receive funding from this scheme.
         Nothing came of this, and the idea sat until September 1929 when the idea of charity stamps was taken up again. The Postmaster General recommended that 1d should for postage and 1d for charity. On the 25th October permission was given to proceed with the design. It was drawn by Stanley Davis of the Advertising Branch of the New Zealand Railways Department, who was responsible for the vignette (centre) and L. C. Mitchell of the Government Printing Office, who was responsible for the frame and border.
          The image of the nurse was taken from a photograph of a recently qualified nurse, Nell Burt, who was staying with her uncle, Mr P. N. Cryer, who held a senior position in the Post office. Below can be seen a photograph of Mrs N. R. Jones (formerly Nell Burt) holding the photograph of herself used in the 1929 Health Stamp.
  

Below are four designs or essays created that lead to the First Health Stamp

in 1929. The changes may appear to be small but often it is the little last

minute changes that make all the difference.

Design No1.

This shows the nurse, with a left facing head in a narrow rectangle. She has the medal pinned over her left breast. There is also something strange about her eyes too. The stamp had side borders of thick short horizontal lines. Inside on the sides and centre top and bottom are panels using a Maori rafter pattern. 

Design No2.

The second design shows a full face nurse, her head slightly turned. The detailing of the nurse appears fainter compared to other designs. The eyes appear to have been fixed here. In fact, her eyes look better here than any of the trials including the final design. The centre rectangle is now wider taking up the whole inside of the stamp with the nurse now set in a shield. Notice the background behind the shield is only shaded in the bottom left corner. The borders are mostly the same as they were in design No1.   

Design No3.

The Full faced head, set in a shield has remained. Now there is shading behind the shield. Notice there is a circular patch on the left and right cheeks of the nurse. The short lines in the border have been replaced with long vertical lines.

Design No4.

This again shows the full-faced nurse. She has retained the circular patch on her right cheek but the patch on her left cheek has spread lower down. The vertical lines in the border are much clearer. This is very close to the final design seen below.

The Final Design.

Much of the detail of Design No4 has been retained but the circular patches on both cheeks are gone.

Making the Printing Plate.

The design was drawn to the size of about 6in. by 5in. This was reduced to a third of the size by photography. Eighty reproductions of the print were taken and were assembled in eight horizontal rows of ten, care being taken to have the correct spacing between each print. The sheet was then further reduced by photography to bring each stamp to the correct size and a print was made on to a zinc plate which was then etched to form the printing plate.

The stamps were set in sheets of 80 stamps in 8 horizontal rows. They were printed by the Government Printing Office in Wellington on paper watermarked NZ and star.

The Nurse - 1d + 1d pair mint.                                                           The Nurse - 1d + 1d pair used.

So after studying the history of the design, what does the design actually show?

 The shield in the centre shows a nurse in uniform and wearing the brooch and star, the insignia of the New Zealand Registered Nurse Association.  The year of issue was depicted near the bottom of the design, flanking the double-barred patriarchal cross, which had been adopted as the emblem of the International Anti-Tuberculosis Societies.  The slogan 'Help Stamp Out Tuberculosis' was included in the stamp design. In the bottom corners are the stamp's two values, 1d for postage (left) and 1d for charity (right).

The Stamps were issued on 11th Dec 1929 and withdrawn from sale on the 28th Feb 1930.  It is believed the Health Camps Organisation received £2,470 from the sale of the stamps.

To publicise the stamps, the Post Office issued a poster which suggested that the stamps could be a sign of "Christmas Goodwill" and could be used for the postage of Christmas parcels and letters. For some people, they came to represent a Christmas stamp, although New Zealand was not to see proper Christmas Stamps until far later in 1960. 

It is very rare to find a joined strip of three of these stamps used. Normally they would be used singularly with any extra postage being made up with other stamps. In this case, the purchaser must have decided to give 3 x 1d to charity instead of the more usual 1d. 

Here is a 1930 cover bearing 1929 Health stamp.  It was sent from Auckland to the Kaipara, on the 13th January 1930 which was still well within the period of sale.

(Note: - This is not a First Day Cover.)

The 1930 Health Issue.

There is one final story connected with this first health design. When it was decided that another Charity Issue should be made in 1930 as well. Designs were played with and one that stood out was very similar to the 1931 Smiling boys. By September it was clear that this new design would not be ready in time. On 19th September and a memo was sent to the Government Printer requesting urgently a proof of the 1929 Charity issue with the slogan "HELP PROMOTE HEALTH" replacing the old slogan "HELP STAMP OUT TUBERCULOSIS and the year 1929 changed to 1930. On 16th of October, the Postmaster General approved the design and they were printed and ready for sale by the 29th October.

Below are both the 1929 Health Issue and the 1930 Health Issue. You will notice there is a difference in the colour strength of these two stamps. I believe this is more likely caused by the amount of ink being applied during printing, than a difference in design. 

   
First Day Covers for the 1930 Health Issue.

1930 Health Issue - First Day of Issue Cover - 29 October 1930.

First Day of Issue cover sent from Tauranga to a stamp dealer in Hamilton.


Other Examples of the Nurse Design on Health Stamps.
The 1930 Health Issue had established the pattern of an annual Health Stamp issue that never missed a single year right up until they were discontinued in 2017, the 2016 Health Stamps being the final issue. Along the way, this design or the idea of using a nurse on Health Stamp appeared three times.

1949 1d+1d - The Nurse & Child (21st Health Issue.)

The 1949 Health Stamp issue marked the 21st issue of this series and so it was decided to return to the idea of a nurse. The design shows a nurse holding a small child, not the same as the design above but still related to the same theme - 'children's health care.'
1949 Health Issue

1978 10c+2c - The First Health Stamp. (50th Health Issue.)

To celebrate the 50th Health Issue the first 1929 stamp was used on the lower value.

1978 Health Issue

2009 Health Issue (80th Anniversary of Health Stamps.)

While these three stamps did not show the 1929 Nurse she was shown on the special cancel designed for this issue.

2009 Health Issue.



1929  Technical Information.

Date of Issue:	11 December 1929
Designers:	L C Mitchell, Wellington and Government Printer, Wellington
Printers:	Government Printing Office, New Zealand
Stamp Size:	25mm x 28mm
Sheet Size:	80 stamps per sheet
Process:	Surface printed - Typography
Perforation Gauge:	14
Paper Type:	Cowan chalk surfaced, NZ and star watermark

1930  Technical Information.

Date of Issue:	29 October 1930
Designers:	L C Mitchell, Wellington and Government Printer, Wellington
Printers:	Government Printing Office, New Zealand
Stamp Size:	25mm x 28mm
Sheet Size:	80 stamps per sheet
Process:	Surface printed - Typography
Perforation Gauge:	14
Paper Type:	Cowan chalk surfaced, NZ and star watermark

Notes here are based on an article by John Watts on the web site of the

 New Zealand Society of Great Britain.

Other notes and information came from the web site of

New Zealand Post Stamps.

Some of the images and information in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ

You can visit their web site and On-line Catalogue.      http://stampsnz.com/