Health stamp

Initial credit is given to a 1926 request by Mr E Nielsen[1] of Norsewood on behalf of his mother that special fundraising for deserving health projects.

[4] The stamps were modeled on Christmas Seals, first issued in Denmark in 1904 and subsequently in other countries.

Authority to issue charity stamps was created by section 34 of the Finance Act 1929,[5] which states: ... the Postmaster-General may cause to be created special postage-stamps of the denomination of two pence, which shall be available only for the payment of postage on postal packets, and for that purpose shall be deemed to have a value of one penny only.

The first New Zealand Christmas Seal was approved by the Government in October 1929, and issued on 11 December of that year.

The camps provided holiday relief for children with nutritional and minor physical problems.

The design for the 1929 Christmas Seal features a nurse, the inscription "HELP STAMP OUT TUBERCULOSIS", and the postage and charity denominations.

The nurse image was drawn by L. C. Mitchell from a photograph supplied by Phillip Norton Cryer, New Zealand Director General of Post and Telegraph, of his niece, a registered nurse, Nellie Rebecca Burt, born 4 October 1904 and trained as a nurse at Napier Hospital, purely for it suitability[8] and the frame by staff at the Government Printing Office.

As a depression-era measure, postage rates for private mail had increased to two pennies (this was reversed in 1932), and so a second stamp was needed.

4) Act of 1931,[9] which deleted the explicit values, and allowed the Postmaster-General to issue the stamps "in such denominations as he thinks fit."

This inscription has continued to the present day, and the stamps (retroactively to 1929) are considered to be "Health Stamps" by collectors and New Zealand Post[1] (the successor organization to the New Zealand Post Office Department).

Far rarer is an incorrect design used for the 40 cent stamp in 1996, which featured a young child sitting in a car.

According to a 2008 newspaper article,[19] contributions from health stamps peaked at $158,000 in 1996, but had fallen to $35,000 in 2007.