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I have documented the 'TOO LATE' handstamps of Hobart & Launceston in the special supplement to the BSAP BULLETIN that was published in September 2008. I also documented the (fairly scarce) Waratah 'TOO LATE'. Since publication, I have not come across information that suggests I should amend ERD and LRD for these. However, at Autumn Stampex I acquired a postcard that poses a problem.
The card was machine cancelled at Launceston on 29th December 1910 at 7AM on its way to Bundalong, Victoria. However, it also bears a rectangular boxed 'TOO LATE' marking. The strike is not perfect, but the dimensions appear to be the same as the handstamp for Waratah. I have searched the only relevant reference that is readily available to me, a 1903 copy of Wise's Post Office Directory on CD. The card was written by an 'A Petrie', and only two Petries are listed, one in Hobart and one in Launceston. So where was the handstamp applied? Did it arrive uncancelled in Launceston from Waratah, having been marked too late there? Was it posted too late for the night collection in Launceston, where a handstamp similar to (or even the same one) was used to mark it TOO LATE? Assistance please!

If Waratah had their own TOO LATE h/s one could assume that there would be other offices that had similar ...say Burnie, Devonport, Zeehan, Ulverstone, Strahan, etc. ...especially the towns which were also ports, but this apparently this was not the case. I feel that this h/s was applied to the Victorian-addressed card at Launceston it being received too late to be included in the day's ship mail to Melbourne. As sailings were "every other day" at the time, the h/s was applied to indicate the reason for a delayed delivery. Does this sound plausible?

Ross

I agree that is what (on the face of it) should have happened. I know I have still got one of the Waratah strikes in my collection somewhere, so I will re-check the dimensions. When I first saw this card, my reaction was that the 'TOO LATE' is smaller than the Waratah, but my documented dimensions suggest they are the same or from the same mould. I did not want to rush to print and claim a new, unrecorded, TOO LATE for Launceston without researching it first.

I have been giving this problem a bit of thought, and come up with an alternative scenario. I think that all the items that I have seen struck with the "Waratah" TOO LATE have been addressed to the big island. It would therefore seem plausible to me that the TOO LATE could be attributed to Launceston, more specifically to the section that dealt with the steamer mail. The fact that the only examples previously recorded (and there are only four and one piece) came from Waratah could be explained by there being an occasional problem with getting the mail from Waratah (even though it closed at 2.00pm) to Launceston to catch the steamer.

What does anyone think of this (heretical) idea?

As Ross mentioned in his post above, it seems unlikely that Waratah had its own hand stamp, even though it was one of the busiest Post Offices in the State, given that other similar offices appear not to have had one. It is very easy to imagine circumstances that would delay the mail from Waratah to Launceston. The section of the route from Waratah through Hampshire to Burnie was a narrow gauge railway line, but it passed throuhg very think rainforest and there was a high rainfall and frequent bad weather. Mechanical problems, bad weather or trees across the line could delay the mail, not to mention late departures due to loading problems etc . The Waratah mail would have to change trains at Burnie so there is always the possibility of missing the train connection.
For my money Patrick's suggestion is the most likely explanation.