Peterwellsblog.com Website Review

Or rather how to get as much information as possible from an old letter. The date stamp is crucial. All stamps were 'franked' which means a legible outline was stamped in black ink over the existing stamp with the whereabouts the letter was being posted from and the date, including the year. The stamp also gives information wider than itself. In this case the letter is franked 16 April 1942, New Plymouth, NZ.  The stamp is of a Maori whare (house) and is finely In 1940 it was one hundred years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. New Zealand effectively dates itself from February 1840 when the Treaty was signed between Maori and Queen Victoria. In 1940 there was a celebration of New Zealand being one hundred years old. Hence the picture of a Maori house: it evoked the early world of New Zealand, its 'authentic' origins. But it was also made 'antique' by being so finely etched. This meant it belonged in another world. It was not strictly speaking contemporary. But there was a problem in 1940. The world had erupted into global war. New Zealand as a British Dominion as it was called - this means an independent state that was in the British Empire - sent troops to Europe and the Middle East to fight for what was conceived as 'the motherland' - Britain. This was partly because most New Zealanders of European descent were originally from Britain and Ireland. They were part of one of the great tidal movements of people in the 19th century, when the Anglophone world (people who speak English) spread out all around the globe in a desperate hope of making a better life than that in an overpopulated industrial Britain - or famine-struck Ireland. In some ways it was not unlike the great movements of population today. But one hundred years on New Zealand sent its army to Europe to fight. It was relying on British imperial power to protect it, especially from Japanese fascism. However the British army had the most resounding defeat in its history in 1942 when the British army