More Info →The Square, Palmerston North

Description: Excerpt from Elmer's diary (an Englishman on his big OE in NZ 1935-39): ‘…took coloured snap of square from roof of Ross & Co - meant climbing over wire fence 7' high.’

Reliable colour film was not available until the 1930s. Elmer bought his first film in colour from Horace Hamilton of H.E Perry Ltd in Christchurch and took his first photo of two children on 22 March 1937. The brand of film was a Dufay which produced six 9 x 6 cm slides that came mounted in 15 x 11 cm black, light cardboard frames. Elmer commented in a letter, ‘The main drawback is one can’t have prints made and one has to hold the negatives [actually positives] up to the light.’ He goes on to say, ‘As it cost over 1/- [one shilling] per snap, I will not be taking too many.’ (Compare this with one shilling being an average price for a three-course restaurant meal at the time.)