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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 1 (May 1, 1933)

A Peep at the Past

A Peep at the Past.

It will surprise many New Zealanders to learn that the first postal service in this country was under the jurisdiction of New South Wales—the “Mother State.” Even after the proclamation of British sovereignity at Kororareka (Russell), in the Bay of Islands, by Captain Hobson, in 1840, New Zealand remained for a while under the suzerainty of New South Wales. Captain Hobson was Lieutenant-Governor here, acting for the Governor of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps. It is recorded in Mr. Donald Robertson's “Early History of the New Zealand Post Office,” that “the first trace of anything bearing on the subject of a post office in New Zealand is a statement made by Mr. Powditch that in 1831 he, being a personal friend of the Postmaster-General of New South Wales, was commissioned to receive and make-up mails on his behalf in the Bay of Islands.”

For some years after 1840 postal development was slow and cumbersome. “As stamps were not in use till 1855,” wrote Mr. Robertson, “letters were handed with the cash to the postmaster, and the address of every letter, with the amount of the postage, was entered in a ponderous record-book, from which was transcribed in triplicate, a monthly return.”

Yes, things have moved since then.