Inward surface mail from New Zealand via Australia under the 2d rate. The letter was dispatched to sydney, then transshipped (June 1940) to Port Vila on the M.V. Malaita (June 1940) mail boat. It was not censored at New Zealand nor in Australia but at Port Vila. Here, the letter was opened and resealed with the brown sealing tape (original prototype) and tied with the Condominium censor strike. (Jersey coll.)

Postcard from Futuna to USA via Vila. Circular datestamp "Protectorat Français Futuna" 26 June 1940. Censored in Vila, transit marked Vila 15 July 1940, PCH type 13. ("Aore" coll.)

This mail is identified by the dater showing
1 March 1942. The Kombito reached Port Vila from Auki, Malaita on 16 March 1942. This cover was opened and censored in Australia. Four examples of Kombito mail are recorded. (Jersey coll.)

Cover from Auki to Port Vila and thence to Sydney: 1942 (1 March) env. carried by district officer Henry Joslyn on Lever Brothers ketch "Kombito" from Auki, Malaita Island to Port Vila and then on the "Malaita" to Sydney. The cover is franked with a 2d adhesive cancelled in pencil and again with the "NEW HEBRIDES/VILA" PCH type 9B. Alongside is a "1 MAR 1942" violet h.s. with m/s "BSIP" below, boxed "PASSED BY CENSOR" of Auki and again censored at Sydney. Ex. Robert Taylor. Believed to be one of four recorded covers carried on the Kombito. (Yeomans coll.)
The cover is of some historic interest, the sender being the Bishop of Melanesia Walter Baddeley, who remained in the Solomons during all of the WW2 campaigns from early 1942.

Mail and Government records were shipped out of Malaita (Solomon Islands), the rear headquarters of the government, on the Burns Philp vessel, the Kombito to Port Vila, New Hebrides. The vessel was captained by DO Henry E. Josselyn, MBE. I suppose that the "Passed by censor" cachet was applied in New Zealand. (Jersey coll.)

16 March 1942

1942 stampless official mail envelope with two censor handstamps. Image 42FE17 thanks to Auktionen Gärtner, Germany.

OCS cover to Ashton Lancashire England. PCH type 11 in black, circular PASSED BY CENSOR * NEW HEBRIDES CONDOMINIUM DES Nlles HEBRIDES * PASSE PAR LA CENSURE handstamp in violet and a nice impression of the rare mark The Condominium Postmaster / Le Chef du Service Postal at left. ("SeSi" collection)

Posted and registered and censored at Port Vila and addressed to a member of the 23d Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group (B-17 aircraft) at APO 719, the post office of the XIII Air Force. It was put in the military mails at Navy 156 at Efate and flown to Espiritu Santo by a SOC aircraft arriving at Navy 140 on the 17th. (Jersey coll.)
The letter was turned over to Army Post Office 708 and forwarded to APO 719. The addressee, Private Smart, had in the meanwhile been transferred to Henderson Airfield, Guadalcanal Island (forward echelon). The letter was transshipped by APO 719, by the rear echelon, arriving there on 23 December 1944.

15 December 1944

In Transit Mail via Port Vila to Australia
Posted at Peu, Vanikoro, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands, by Frederick L. Jones who operated a trading station at Peu. The Vanikoro Post Office closed down on 24 October 1944, but obviously stamps were still available at the District Officer's office. The letter bearing (SG #60 and #62) 2d (colonial rate) in postage was carried to Port Vila, New Hebrides in Jones' vessel the "Comme Même" or "Quand Meme". At Vila, the letter was censored (British Resident Office), but not opened and placed aboard the monthly Burns Philp Company steamer for Sydney, Australia. Cancelled with PCH type 89. It bears the backstamp of the Chief Parcel Office N.S.W. dated 9 February 1945. (Jersey coll.)

OCS letter from Service des Postes du Condominium to Paris XVIII, forwarded to Saint Jean de Luz (Basses Pyrénées) France. PCH type 11 in black and circular bilingual censor cachet PASSED BY CENSOR in violet on front. ("SeSi" collection)

Sent 10 May 1945 - arrived Port-Vila 13 July 1945. Registered letter, the Air Mail transport not performed as the label is devalued by manuscript lines. Dated 10 May 1945 at Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) with destination Port-Vila. The reconstruction of the stations on this way by means of the cancels shows a fine image of the beginning of postal services after the end of World War II. Lissabon (19 May), New York (25 and 29 May): opened by U.S. censor, resealed with transparent tape "EXAMINED BY/5979", San Francisco (31 May), Honolulu (1 June), Sydney(10 and 11 June) with another censor tape "OPENED BY CENSOR/2" and violet diamond censor handstamp "2/PASSED/BY/CENSOR/738" by Sydney censor and arriving cds 13 July in Port-Vila. Travel time 65 days. ("SeSi" coll.)

10 May 1945