The two covers are part of my collection of North Borneo stamps bearing the Kuala Belait postmarks. Kuala Belait is a town in Brunei. During the BMA period, two types of postmarks were introduced and supplied by the Straits Times Singapore. During this time, Brunei as a whole did not produce any new stamps issues and used either North Borneo or Sarawak stamps overprinted with "BMA" until 2 January 1947.

The first cover on top was addressed to R. H. Morland of London from Kuala Belait dated 28 April 1946. It is franked with the 1 cent and $1 BMA stamps of North Borneo and 5 cents and 15 cents stamps of BMA Sarawak.

The second cover, also adressed to London, bears a second type of postmark (D8 Kuala Belait) dated 06 June 1946 or "triple 6". This cover bears the North Borneo BMA stamps of 2 cents, 10 cents and 50 cents.

History

Kuala Belait is the second largest city in Brunei after Bandar Seri Begawan. The original Kuala Belait post office was built on the site of the present day mosque in Kampong Melayu Asli. On December 16 1941, the Japanese troops arrived at Kuala Belait and invaded the rest of Brunei in 6 days. After the defeat of the Japanese army in 1945, Kuala Belait was administered under British Military Administration (BMA) as a sub office of Miri, Sarawak.