ANTARCTIC - NEW ZEALAND POSTCARD SERIES ANTARCTIC - NEW ZEALAND POSTCARD SERIES OFFICIAL "S.S. DISCOVERY" CACHET ON CARD FOR DEPARTURE FROM BRITAIN; 31st July 1901 usage of the Wrench Series 3, No.1 PPC (small faults; showing Scott & the "Discovery")
with QV 1/2d from London, having a superb strike of the encircled "ANTARCTIC/EXPDN./1901/S.S. DISCOVERY" cachet on the picture side.
Antarctic - New Zealand Postcards can form an exciting and very varied type of collection. Here are a few to illustrate this.
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I am not an expert on these - Steve McLachlan of Shades Stamps - Christchurch is way far more knowledgeable and an exhibitor, writer, and serious collector on this
topic along with NZ Ship postcards (Hopefully one day he will contribute here for others - OR display his collections in digital form as I will show and suggest in
a future article (So others may make (download or create) their own reference copies of magnificient collections others have assembled (Before they break them up
and sell them for thebig financial gains (OR their families do once they have died - which we see so often these day - eg If you look in the ANTARCTIC ALBUM
I have assembled - you will see a numbered collection 480-531 - Well this collection I saw (help mount at a couple of major NZ Exhibitions about 20+ years ago
AND really liked - Well this collection was broken up and sold in March 2006 in Australia with it going to all parts of the globe never to be seen together again
- a crying shame - They may have reprinted various postcards etc from it - I doubt if they produced a hardback book with the information and details
(as displayed in the 64-128 page Ex) Today this can be done digitally like I do in album form - then saved and distributed in a number of different
formats to other collectors. Refer to (Watch for my article on this here) Then add your collection here in those forms for others and prosperity.
(LOVE to see them saved here)
ANTARCTIC - NEW ZEALAND POSTCARD SERIES
HISTORY of the THE WEEKLY PRESS
QUOTE: Weekly Press
1865 F18 - 1928 O24
(Library has: 1866 Ag - 1867 Ja; 1868; 1870-1877; 1879-1880; 1881 Jl - 1888; 1889 Jl -1923; illustrations only 1924-1928 ; microfilm: 1865-1928 Oct)
The Press Co. commenced its weekly in 1865. It was directed at country districts and became very popular, containing sports news, agricultural writing,
light reading, and original writing. It later became New Zealand's most popular magazine. The Weekly Press took the initiative in the South Island in
illustrating in half tone engravings from 1894 and soon it contained several pages of illustrations of exceptional quality.
These illustrations now provide a most important photographic history of the Canterbury area and further afield for the early part of this century.
Many photographs in the Library's photograph collection come from the illustrations published in the Weekly Press and Canterbury times.
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These are just some postcards I have in my digital image library.
I know there is (And I have written about them else where and have this information also elsewhere - which when I find it - will add to this subject and these postcards)
Number of different Series unknown (But I believe they were done in series for atleast a couple of SPECIAL occassions and sold to their readers)
Information on this is required - Please contribute.
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Correct me if I am wrong - details and information is required -
again I have it somewhere in my extensive library and will add it when I locate it. Appreciate contributions on this topic/article -
send me your info to Kiwi Jeff
Below is the link to the album (which has considerable more information in it on the large image pages - click on the thumbnails to see the enlarged images and details
The Weekly News - Antarctic Postcards
Wrench London SERIES
The company was established as E Wrench in 1900 at 20 Haymarket, London, and soon moved to Arthur Street, London.
The company became E Wrench Ltd in 1902 It held a large percentage of the postcard market in the early 1900s but ran into trouble through exclusively selling its own cards.
The company became Wrench Postcards in 1904 but soon ran into difficulties and closed (I have read 'in 1904' and 'in1906' from different sources). The company's problems were caused by exclusively carrying their own products in their many shops.
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Here are some of the images I have - enlarged views
Similar Series 3, No.2 PPC (fine; depicting route map and ship's decks) with a superb Expedition cachet; posted 7th Oct. 1901 to G.B. from the SS Discovery at "SIMONS TOWN" en route with C.G.H. 1d.
Similar Series 3, No.3 PPC (minor edge faults but attractive; showing men on an ice-flow and again with a superb Expedition cachet) sent on 24th Dec. 1901 from the SS Discovery at Lyttleton (the last port of call) with N.Z. 1d Universal to G.B.
Similar Series 3, No.4 PPC (trivial corner faults; depicting a polar bear & British flag) posted on 25th April 1904 at Christchurch (1d Universal) to G.B. from the SS Discovery upon her return with a mostly very fine strike of the Expedition cachet. The card was "Carried by the Discovery during her wanderings..." (for 3 years) in the Antarctic.
"H.M.S. MORNING" CARD FROM A CREW-MEMBER OF THE RESCUE EXPEDITION ; Very fine 31st Dec. 1903 PPC (photo of 6 members of the ship's crew) headed from "H.M.S. Morning,
69º.25'.0 Lat,. 177º,12'.0 E. Lon.", from "L. Burgess" on the ship en route to extricate the SS Discovery from the ice; sent to Christchurch (NZ) with a NZ 1d Universal cancelled at Lyttleton upon the return of the three ships (5th Apr. 1904).
The writer says; "...we have been fast in the ice all yesterday and up to 10.30AM today [when] we got clear ..." Rare item from the Rescue Expedition.
Similar 17th Jan. 1904 PPC (Weekly Press card showing the "Discovery's Penguins" on one side and a view of the ship's Maori welcome on the address side; again to
Christchurch with NZ 1d Universal cancelled at Lyttleton on 4th Apr. 1904. "Len [Burgess]" writes from "H.M.S. Morning, Antarctic Relief Ship, Lat. 77º.49'.08 "; "We are as far South as we can get now.
It is all up to getting the Discovery out now; we are blasting today, but it is no use. Two sledge parties has left the ship to fetch things from the discovery ..." In fact they did finally free the Discovery on 16th Feb. 1904.
Rare and very attractive.
Similar very fine 17th July 1904 PPC (Weekly Press view of "Discovery in Lyttleton Graving Dock" on back and "The Discovery's Captain" on address side) from the same correspondence of
Len Burgess on "H.M.S. Morning, Antarctic Relief Ship, Falkland Island" to Christchurch, ref. his recent safe passage round Cape Horn, following the successful freeing of the Discovery and her return to N.Z. in April.
The card has been franked by both a NZ 1d Universal AND by a Falkland Is. KEVII 1d (presumably the cards had been prepared with the NZ stamps already attached for use from NZ ports),
both tied by fine 2-ring "+ FALKLAND +/ISLANDS" c.d.s.'s , with Montevideo, Wellington & Christchurch transit marks on the address side. Rare.
Matching card, also sent on 17th/19th July 1904 from Len Burgess on "H.M.S. Morning, Falkland Island" to the same N.Z. address, but a different "Weekly Press" PPC (showing
Discovery's rigging on one side and "The Discovery Stoker Page and [dog] Vinker" on the address side); also with NZ 1d and Falkland Is. 1d tied by a very fine "+ FALKLAND +/ISLANDS" c.d.s. Rare thus.
ANTARCTICA - SCOTT EXPEDITION, 1910-12
662 "FRY's COCOA" ADVERTISING CARD REF. THE "BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION, 1910"; Very attractive 1911 Artist's colour advertising PPC (slight bend but otherwise very fine)
showing explorers, huskies and sledges in the ice; with printed testimonials for Fry's Cocoa of 1909 & 1911 on the reverse. Very rare and ideal Exhibition ancillary item.
REAL PHOTO "IN MEMORY OF CAPT. SCOTT" CARDS; Rare pair of unused c.1912 b/w PPC's (mostly very fine; pub. by Rotary & Batchelder Bros.) in Memory of Scott; one showing the Terra Nova
in the ice, and the other with views of Scott's "Motor Sleigh" and of the Terra Nova in port. Both with vignette portraits of Scott himself. (2 cards).
OTHER REAL PHOTO CARDS OF THE TERRA NOVA; 1910 PPC (faults & stamp removed) showing portraits of Scott & Evans and "The Terra Nova R.Y.S. leaving Cardiff, June 15th 1910" with message dated
17th Oct. 1910, 1913 usage of a similar PPC (faults and creases) of the ship in port, and a c.1950s fine PPC of "Captain Scott's 1st Sledge Party to the Bluff" on the ice. Scarce trio. (3 cards).
The information below each card shows just scarce this type of collecting has become
THE WEEKLY PRESS - History
James Edward Fitzgerald
James Edward Fitzgerald
Born: 1818, in Bath, England
Died: 2 August 1896, in Wellington
Early Life
James Edward Fitzgerald was the youngest son of an Irish landowner.
He was educated in England at Bath, and at Christ's College, Cambridge.
He was unable to join the Royal Engineers because of poor eyesight, and instead joined the British Museum as a junior assistant in 1844, becoming assistant secretary of the Museum by 1848.
Adult Life
Fitzgerald spent time travelling in Scotland and Ireland, and became concerned with the problem of the poor, especially during the Irish Famine of 1846.
He became interested in the issue of colonisation, and after meeting Edward Gibbon Wakefield in 1849, became secretary of the Canterbury Association.
He married Frances Erskine Draper on 22 August 1850, and shortly after left with his new wife on the Charlotte Jane for New Zealand.
When they reached Lyttelton on December 16 1850, Fitzgerald was the first to leap ashore.
Fitzgerald was appointed sub-inspector of police and also worked as the emigration agent for the Association.
He edited the Lyttelton Times, the first newspaper in Canterbury, and published a weekly edition from 11 January 1851 on.
At first he lived on the hillside above Lyttelton, but moved to a cattle and dairy farm west of Christchurch in 1853. He was not very successful as a farmer but became a leading figure in Canterbury.
In 1853 Fitzgerald won the election to become first superintendent of Canterbury.
During his time as superintendent (1853-1857) the population of Canterbury doubled from 3,000 to 6,230; the new Canterbury province took over the debts of the Canterbury Association, but gained the Hagley Park, Cathedral Square and Market Square in Christchurch.
The road connecting Lyttelton and Sumner was completed, and Fitzgerald opened it by driving his dog-cart over the road.
Fitzgerald was probably responsible for naming the new school opened by the Reverend Henry Jacobs, Christ's College, after his old college at Cambridge.
He was Member of the House of Representatives for Lyttelton for the first meeting of the new parliament in 1854, but played only a small part in politics after the first session because of ill health.
Fitzgerald resigned from parliament in 1857 and returned to England where he continued to work for Canterbury as emigration agent, sending 4,000 new settlers out to New Zealand, and working on projects such as a provincial railway system, Christ's College and the Christchurch Cathedral.
Fitzgerald returned to New Zealand in 1860, and soon became involved in local politics again.
He was strongly opposed to the proposal by William Moorhouse to build a rail tunnel through the Port Hills to link Lyttelton and Christchurch, because of the huge costs involved, and used The Press, which he had founded, to attack Moorhouse.
Fitzgerald was a born journalist, and as well as The Press, brought out an evening newspaper and, more successfully, the Weekly Press. However he wanted to put the Lyttelton Times out of business and went into debt trying to do it. In the end he had to pass control of The Press over to a company in 1868.
Fitzgerald became involved in national politics again during the 1860s, at the time of the New Zealand Wars. He supported Maori rights, and equal civil and political rights for all New Zealanders regardless of race. He wanted Maori to take part in government, and was opposed to the policy of land confiscation, and the use of British troops.
In 1865 Fitzgerald became minister for native affairs but the new policies he tried to introduce to improve relations between Maori and pakeha did not succeed.
In 1867 he retired from politics and moved to Wellington.
He spent the last thirty years of his life in Wellington, where he was an important figure in the intellectual and cultural life of the city.
Following government cutbacks in the 1880s, Fitzgerald helped found the Public Service Association in July 1890, to act as a union for civil servants. He was the first president of the new association.
Fitzgerald died on 2 August 1896 in Wellington, aged nearly 80.
Summary
James Edward Fitzgerald had both public speaking and writing skills. He used these abilities to help establish himself as one of the leaders of the new settlement.
He played an important part in Canterbury politics and used his influence as editor of first the Lyttelton Times, and then The Press to do this.
At a national level he was a strong supporter of Maori rights and later, the rights of civil servants who worked for the government.
Explanations
Lyttleton Times
The Charlotte Jane carried the equipment needed to print a newspaper. Less than a month after the arrival of the first ships, the first issue of the Lyttelton Times was printed on Saturday, 11 January 1851, in a shed on Norwich Quay. A printer, Ingram Shrimpton, had been involved with the planning for the newspaper back in England, but had not emigrated to New Zealand immediately. James Edward Fitzgerald offered to edit the paper without pay until Shrimpton's arrival. A year later Fitzgerald hoped to buy the Lyttelton Times and set up as a full-time publisher. The paper was still a weekly, and it was thought that most of the work was done by Fitzgerald's assistant, Francis Knowles. However by 1853 Fitzgerald had abandoned the scheme of buying the paper, and taken up dairy farming instead.
The Press
One of the first attacks in print Fitzgerald made on Moorhouse was in a 5,400 word letter to the Lyttelton Times, but this was met by angry criticism of Fitzgerald in the paper, which supported Moorhouse. A group of Fitzgerald's supporters raised the money needed to establish another paper. The first issue of The Press was printed in a clergyman's cottage in Montreal Street on 25 May 1851, and sold for sixpence. The Press became Canterbury's first daily newspaper (and New Zealand's second daily) with the issue published on 17 March 1863.
Sources
Dictionary of New Zealand biography, vol. 1, 1769-1869. Wellington, 1990
New Zealand's heritage, Vol. 2. Wellington, [1971-73]
The Press 1861-1961: the story of a newspaper: Christchurch Press Company Ltd, 1963
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