Romanian link to interesting cover.

"Rod" wrote in message
... Australians have been hearing a lot
about the
Kevin Rudd~Brian Burke meeting of late.

In 1994, Brian Burke became the first head
of any Australian government to go to prison. He was
jailed for misusing parliamentary travel expenses. Burke
was jailed again in 1997 after being convicted of stealing
more than $100,000 from the Labor Party to buy stamps
for his personal collection.
http://cjoint.com/data/dshZVmeMWy.htm
Later, the conviction was quashed.

snip

Nice history, "great" politician & stamp collector. Here is the Wikipedia
version:

"His premiership was characterised by close associations with businessmen
such as Laurie Connell and Alan Bond and arranging joint government and
business deals. As a result of the 1987 stock market crash, major corporate
collapses including that of Connell's merchant bank Rothwells unwound some
of those deals which in turn caused major losses to the State. The corporate
deals and the attempted government sponsored rescue of Rothwells became
known later as WA Inc.

Burke resigned as Premier before the full extent of the deals and losses
were known and went on to become Australia's ambassador to Ireland and the
Holy See before being forced to resign as a result of allegations of
improper conduct during his time as Premier.

As a result of the allegations, the WA Inc royal commission was established
in 1990, and led to Burke being charged with various offences for which he
was sentenced to two years imprisonment. He served seven months in jail in
1994 for travel expense rorts before being released on parole. In March 1997
he was sentenced to three years jail for stealing $122,585 in campaign
donations. He served six months before the convictions were quashed on
appeal. He was stripped of his honour as a Companion of the Order of
Australia."

The cover is highly interesting by itself. In was sent by the
"Intreprinderea Rompresfilatelia", the stately owned (like all others)
philatelic company. The weight of the cover was of 40 grams, so that I can
suppose that it contained some stamps (even if the cancel IMPRIMATE means
"printed matters"). I wonder a bit that this company sent something directly
to a private person, because its clients abroad were rather philatelic
companies. But for a probably well connected "Premier" they've got the order
(command) directly from the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist
Party (by constitution the unique leading force of the country).

The letter was registered the 2nd of October 1986 (apparently the same date
as on cancels, that are difficult to read). I wonder what means "1st Carded"
Dec. 1986, put by the Australian PO. Anyway, it seems quite late, even for
this long distance.

--
Victor Manta

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Romania by Stamps: http://marci-postale.com/
Communism on Stamps: http://reds-on.postalstamps.biz/
Philatelic Webmasters Organization: http://pwmo.org/
Art on Stamps: http://artonstamps.org/
Spanish North Africa: http://www.sna-on.postalstamps.biz/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Australians have been hearing a lot about the
Kevin Rudd~Brian Burke meeting of late.

In 1994, Brian Burke became the first head
of any Australian government to go to prison. He was
jailed for misusing parliamentary travel expenses. Burke
was jailed again in 1997 after being convicted of stealing
more than $100,000 from the Labor Party to buy stamps
for his personal collection.
http://cjoint.com/data/dshZVmeMWy.htm
Later, the conviction was quashed.

Mr Burke began his career in journalism as a cadet at the
West Australian Newspaper before venturing into radio
and television journalism. He entered parliament in 1973
and became Leader of the Opposition in 1981 before
becoming Premier of Western Australia in 1983.

His other ministerial appointments include Minister for
Cabinet, Treasurer, Minister for Coordinating Economic
and Social Development. After resigning from parliament
Mr Burke served as Australia's Ambassador to the
Republic of Ireland and the Holy See.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...2/s1562558.htm

Thanks for that Victor,
I remember that time extremely vividly,
I was attempting to manage a Bank loan of around
$200,000 at the then going rate of 14%

"Carded" as a guess, is when the Aust PO,
records any registered document that requires an
appropriate signature prior to delivery.

Regards.
Rod


"Victor Manta" wrote in message
...
"Rod" wrote in message
... Australians have been hearing a
lot
about the
Kevin Rudd~Brian Burke meeting of late.

In 1994, Brian Burke became the first head
of any Australian government to go to prison. He was
jailed for misusing parliamentary travel expenses. Burke
was jailed again in 1997 after being convicted of stealing
more than $100,000 from the Labor Party to buy stamps
for his personal collection.
http://cjoint.com/data/dshZVmeMWy.htm
Later, the conviction was quashed.

snip

Nice history, "great" politician & stamp collector. Here is the Wikipedia
version:

"His premiership was characterised by close associations with businessmen
such as Laurie Connell and Alan Bond and arranging joint government and
business deals. As a result of the 1987 stock market crash, major
corporate
collapses including that of Connell's merchant bank Rothwells unwound some
of those deals which in turn caused major losses to the State. The
corporate
deals and the attempted government sponsored rescue of Rothwells became
known later as WA Inc.

Burke resigned as Premier before the full extent of the deals and losses
were known and went on to become Australia's ambassador to Ireland and the
Holy See before being forced to resign as a result of allegations of
improper conduct during his time as Premier.

As a result of the allegations, the WA Inc royal commission was
established
in 1990, and led to Burke being charged with various offences for which he
was sentenced to two years imprisonment. He served seven months in jail in
1994 for travel expense rorts before being released on parole. In March
1997
he was sentenced to three years jail for stealing $122,585 in campaign
donations. He served six months before the convictions were quashed on
appeal. He was stripped of his honour as a Companion of the Order of
Australia."

The cover is highly interesting by itself. In was sent by the
"Intreprinderea Rompresfilatelia", the stately owned (like all others)
philatelic company. The weight of the cover was of 40 grams, so that I can
suppose that it contained some stamps (even if the cancel IMPRIMATE means
"printed matters"). I wonder a bit that this company sent something
directly
to a private person, because its clients abroad were rather philatelic
companies. But for a probably well connected "Premier" they've got the
order
(command) directly from the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist
Party (by constitution the unique leading force of the country).

The letter was registered the 2nd of October 1986 (apparently the same
date
as on cancels, that are difficult to read). I wonder what means "1st
Carded"
Dec. 1986, put by the Australian PO. Anyway, it seems quite late, even for
this long distance.

--
Victor Manta

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Romania by Stamps: http://marci-postale.com/
Communism on Stamps: http://reds-on.postalstamps.biz/
Philatelic Webmasters Organization: http://pwmo.org/
Art on Stamps: http://artonstamps.org/
Spanish North Africa: http://www.sna-on.postalstamps.biz/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--