logo
Wellington - West Coast

On January 20, 1932 a survey flight was made from Wellington to Hokitika on the west coast of the South Island with the return on the same day. Stops were made in both directions at Nelson and Westport.

Jan 20

The company involved was Air Travel, the pilot was M.C. McGregor and the plane was a Simmonds Spartan.

The flights had the support of the Postal Department and airmail was delivered and collected at each stop. The postage was 5d made up of 2d surface and 3d air mail. A total of 7719 items was carried.

Different cachets were applied at the four starting points, each in a different colour.

Outward

Jan 20
Wellington - Westport

The first cover is one of 736 carried on the Wellington to Westport leg. The Wellington cachet is purple.

backstamp

The cover is postmarked 6 am at Wellington and was backstamped 11 am on arrival at Westport.

Jan 20
Nelson - Westport
Jan 20

The next cover was also carried to Westport, this time it is one of 447 carried from Nelson where it was postmarked at 8.30am.

The Nelson cachet is green.

Return

Jan 20
Hokitika - Nelson

The next cover is one of 502 carried on the return journey from Hokitika to Nelson and is postmarked at 1 pm. The Hokitika cachet is dark green.

backstamp

The cover was backstamped 5 pm on arrival at Nelson.

Jan 20
Westport - Nelson
Jan 20

The fourth cover is one of 484 carried from Westport to Nelson and is postmarked at 2pm and is backstamped on arrival at 5pm. The Westport cachet is red.

A regular service between Nelson and Hokitika via Greymouth was set up in February 1937 by Cook Strait Airways. This connected with their service from Nelson to Blenheim and Wellington. In March 1939, a stop at Westport was added to the service.

back next
back next


All scans were made by the author. Information on this page is taken from:
Airmails of New Zealand, volume 1 (1955) compiled by Douglas A Walker, and the New Zealand Airmail Catalogue, (2nd Edition, 1994) by James Stapleton. Both are published by the Air Mail Society of New Zealand