Show Your British Empire Covers & Postal History Here

Rod-

I'd be interested in the Empire stamp essay information, if you would be so kind...

Great items, one and all.

Collin

I'll email it tomorrow Collin.

Empire?
I wonder when we should consider the "empire" to have
ended? I just kinda feel it was around 1947.

To illustrate and flesh out the development of India
during and after WW2 which, whilst crippling England, was
the vehicle to alter India from a huge debtor nation, to a creditor nation, within the short space of just 3 years.


Of outstanding importance was the tremendous mass of raw materials and industrial
supplies that came from Indian mines, factories, and plantations for the war uses of the
United Nations. During the North Africa campaign India was the main supplier of bulk
stores. In the year 1944 alone she supplied the armed forces of the United States with 78
million yards of cotton cloth, and she was the third largest consigner of war supplies to
Australia.

The Indian government built new ordnance factories, which employed 100,000 men in
contrast to the prewar figure of 15,000. These and other factories that were converted to
war use increased from ten to fifty times the production of such items as rifles, bayonets,
guns and gun carriages, grenades, mines, and bombs. Of the forty thousand articles that
are needed for the equipment of a modern army, India managed to produce three-fourths.
Auto-assembly plants were set up to manufacture chassis, which then were sent to
factories to be armor-plated. The manufacture of such chemicals as soda ash, chlorine,
and caustic soda was increased; steel production was stepped up in 1943 by 50 per cent;
and the shipbuilding and ship-repair industries were so expanded that three hundred
vessels were launched in a single year. In addition to munitions, India exported a large
and immensely Important volume of such raw materials as oil seeds, timber, mica,
manganese, tea and coffee, and jute.

One of the most decisive long-range results of this vast war effort was the transformation
of India from a debtor to a creditor nation, In speaking of this accomplishment the Indian
finance minister declared: "India has completed the transition from a debtor to a creditor
country, and extinguished within the space of about three years accumulations over
decades of its public indebtedness to the United Kingdom."

"A short history of India and Pakistan"
T Walter Wallbank 1958

Your cover travelled on this lady (circa SG297)

Cheers rod. Here is a MV Tulagi cover...

SS Pakhoi...

A Reverend Voyce cover posted aboard RV Ozama Twomey

Do not recognise names of any others on stamps,
from the web:

The RV Ozama Twomey was one of three 55-foot vessels given in 1958 to the principal missionary organisations in the British Solomons. The Methodist Mission was given the Ozama Twomey, the Anglican Mission the Fauabu Twomey and the Catholic Mission the Mala Twomey .

The MV Tulagi must be a second named vessel,
the first was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine
U532 in the Indian Ocean. makes a fascinating read.

http://www.merchant-navy-ships.com/...30,0,0,1,0,0

Very nice Pacific Ship covers, Plateflaw!

Here is a ship cover from Tuvalu, it was originally posted in another thread.

...And here is the stamp of the M.V. Nivanga, with a nice bullseye.



Rod you can yellow text this one

One of the meaner covers in my collection:



Imagine landing the Salvation Army with double deficiency postage due, by using a revenue instead of a postage stamp on your letter. Not cricket

Tony,
You would think the postie would have let it through (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

...(neat cover notwithstandding)


For BeeSee

Break out the Pina Coladas, and the straw hat,
Tuvalu is absolutely beautiful,
Check this out
http://www.tuvaluislands.com/uq/gal...unafuti.html

Another MV Ozama Twomey cover, this time on a cover commemorating the opening of the United Ships Postal Agency on 1 June 1972.