On 1 October 1936, a five stamp set celebrating the first Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire Conference to be held in New Zealand, went on sale.
According to information from New Zealand Post and the Royal Philatelic Society of NZ, "an unprecedented rush occured. At all the large offices queues began to form up before the doors were even opened at 8am and even at midday prospective purchasers were standing six deep at the stamp counters at the main centres. Postal authorities were amazed at the thousands of people who purchased from one to six sets. The demand was so great that most of the larger offices had sold out of 2 1/2d stamps on the first day. The 2 1/2d and 4d values were not available at any office after the 6th October and the 6d was exhausted the following day."
The set included depictions of NZ's main economic industries at the time: wool, butter, lambs, apples and shipping.
