South Africa: UK Aerogramme Cut-Out on Aerogramme Form not Accepted as Paquebot Mail

Cut-out from a UK 6 d aerogramme used as franking on aerogramme form from South Africa to the UK. 

Written on board of the Dominion Monarch, which travelled the London to Wellington, NZ, route via Cape Town, South Africa. The aerogramme was fed into the postal network at Cape Town on 9 VII 54.

It was marked with a four-line bilingual handstamp „Insufficiently Prepaid for / Transmission by Air Mail“ and taxed 4 d.

According to the UPU rules, the aerogramme should have been accepted as Paquebot mail if

• the postage used was valid in the flag state of the ship the mail came from and
• the mail was transferred in a mail bag from the ship to the local postal authorities at first port calling at a country.

So either the cut-out was not regarded a valid franking, or the aerogramme form was not transferred to the postal authorities in a mail bag but, for instance, put into a letter box.

The surface letter rate to the UK was 2 d, so double deficiency (4 d) was postage due. No apparent postage due handling in country of destination.