Today in Postal History



Negri Sembilan to Fiji
July 27, 1938

This registered cover was sent from Seremban about 55 km
southeast of Kuala Lumpur in the Malayasian state of Negri Sembilan.
Seremban is the capital of  Negri (now Negeri) Sembilan.

The cover was cancelled with two oval registration handstamps for Seremban.
 The letters after SEREMBAN are F.M.S. for Federated Malay States.
The Federated Malay States comprised Negri Sembilan
(including Sungei Ujong), Pahang, Perak and Selangor.*

The cover also received a faint blue pencilled registry cross before the stamps were affixed.
There is also a prenumbered Seremban registry label.

The cover was bound for Natuvu in the Fiji Islands.
To get there it went through Singapore on July 28 (double circle registration CDS),
Sydney G.P.O., N.S.W., Australia on August 6,
and finally through Suva, Fiji registry on August 13.

Natuvu is on Vanua Levu Island but is not shown on this map.
Natuvu is at the end of Tunuloa peninsula which is at the southeast corner of Vanua Levu.
It is the site of the Buca Bay ferry.

The cover is franked with 1c. black, 2c. green, 8c. gray, and 12c. bright ultramarine
Negri Sembilan arms issue of December, 1935 and January, 1936 (SG 21, 22, 29, and 31).
This was the first issue of stamps for Negri Sembilan after using
the stamps of the Federated Malay States from 1901 through 1935.
The rate was 8c. for postage (January 1, 1932 to April 7, 1942) and
15c. for registration (January 1, 1926 to August 14, 1947).*

One wonders what the South Sea Islands Correspondence Club was all about.
Could it have been a Pen Pals group?

Postscript:
On March 8, 2004, I got a wonderful answer to my query concerning
the South Sea Islands Correspondence Club posed above.
Here is the story;

On your website, one of your "Today in Postal History" pages contains an image of a registered cover addressed to Albert P. Ward, Natuvu, Fiji Islands from Seremban in Negri Sembilan.  [The sender referenced this page.]
 
On that page, you state:
"One wonders what the South Sea Islands Correspondence Club was all about.  Could it have been a Pen Pals group?"
 
I have the answer to that question.
 
Albert P. Ward was my great-grandfather and he was the founder of the South Sea Islands Correspondence Club.  My family has three bound books ranging from 1933 - 1951 and a few loose year book issues through 1956 of "Island Life", the "official organ of the S.S.I.C.C".
 
The S.S.I.C.C was for correspondence and for trading and selling all kinds of collectibles.  Basically, it was eBay before the internet :-)
 
Do you actually have the registered cover?  If so, I would be very interested in how you came about it.
 
Until today, I did not even know that the S.S.I.C.C existed.  On a lark, I did a google search for "natuvu", because my grandparents used to live there.  When I saw your site, and the image of the cover with my great-grandfather's name on it, I forwarded it to my father, who filled me in on that part of our family history.   Unfortunately, we tend to not care much about our family histories, until we get older - by which time those that remember have passed on.  Thank you for helping me to discover some of my own.
 
Thanks,
 
Mark Apgar

Needless to say, I answered his query and asked his permission to share his story.
Thank you, Mark, for sharing your story and permitting me to publish your e-mail.
This just shows how the internet provides unusual opportunities
for meeting people and learning about them.
I love it!

*Jim Whitford-Stark has suggested that the initials after Seremban
are F.M.S. for Federated Malay States.
Thanks to Paul Barsdell for the rate information and for confirmation of the F.M.S.

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