In the 1950s and 1960s New Zealand's home ownership rates were steadily growing. Aspiring to own your own home was a natural part of family life and this slide shows this perfectly- the young family are dreaming of a large house with a decent lawn. A house that size was a big ambition back then and even harder for most families to afford now! 

Unlike a bank, building societies are owned by their members but offer many of the same financial services. The Societies are able to offer 'ballots' where members who bought shares in a special fund were eligible to receive prizes generated from the fund's interest. Few people won prizes but those who did won more than an equal share from the interest would provide. This was like the former 'Bonus Bonds' scheme which concluded in 2020. For many Society Members the biggest financial goal was to raise enough money for a house deposit. 

This Society was based in Auckland but it appears that Maurice Mead was the local Levin agent who represented them. MAVtech cannot find any information about Mister Mead. Interestingly, despite the invitation to call him there is no phone number on the slide! Was this a mistake, or was the slide one of a pair? If it is the latter that would make it very rare! 

While this slide is for a Palmerston North business, Leader & Watt have since opened branches in both Levin and Foxton. But what makes this slide more interesting is what it says about how the Kiwi idea of 'home' was seen.

In postwar New Zealand home ownership was booming. In fact, owning a home was seen as a rite of passage and if you didn't own one by the time you were forty you were seen as rather suspect. Owning a home also meant maintaining it- the Black & Decker portable drill was invented in 1916 and has since gone through many different versions. This slide suggests that it would make a perfect gift for someone who has their own home (a young family starting out in their first home would need power tools- and fast!).

But this drill was sold to men- with the vision of the 'man of the house' being responsible for fixing and extending the home then accepted as normal. Until a couple of years ago a powertool retailer had a radio jingle saying that their stores were '...a man's world' showing that these outdated ideas have lingered.....

This photograph was taken by local photographer Jacob Brookie in March 2023 from the dune track leading from the beach carpark down to the sea. It is of the  Waitārere Beach Surf Life Saving Community Facility under construction and the completed building will be the home to the local surf lifesaving clubrooms which can accommodate up to 200 people and host more training sessions. At the time of writing, it will be ready for the 2023/2024 summer season.

Jacob used a 1960 Agfa Flexilette camera to take this photograph. The Flexilette was an unusual camera as it was a twin lensed design built to take 35mm film- not many of these designs have been made! It wasn't all that popular in its day but still takes nice photographs.

Pyramid Concrete Products was  granted a wholesaler's licence in 1940 and was advertising for staff in 1942, with both documents showing them as trading in Hamilton.  MAVtech cannot find any information about the 'Levin Brick & Pipe Co. Ltd' who were acting as their local agents in Levin.

It is difficult to precisely date this slide, but it may have been made during the post-war 'building boom' of the late 1940s/early 1950s'. According to BRANZ, many New Zealand houses in the 1950s/early 1960s were built using brick so this Levin company may have been very busy indeed- even if this slide is advertising concrete masonry! Still, nothing like being the most unique house on the street - especially as government loans for families building a home mandated 'state house' style designs....

R.N. Speirs must have been the town's proudest Pinex promoter- this is the second slide of theirs which shares the virtues of this timber. Slides from this firm also promote electric heaters and ovens (presumably- the spelling of 'Speirs' is different in the latter slide). This slide dates from around the 1950s/1960s. The text below is from their first 'Pinex' slide which can be found on Kete.

 R.N Speirs had a long history in Foxton- Kete Horowhenua records show them on the town's Main Street as far back as 1905. They were still in Main Street in 1960 with their premises between Cook and Union Streets. Records do not show them there in 1965 so this cinema slide must have been made before then. R.N Speirs were timber merchants and this slide was made in the middle of the 1950s/1960s building boom. Advertising Pinex (made in New Zealand since 1941) would have been important in the 1950s- exotic pine was replacing native timbers as the preferred building material of choice due to pine being fast growing. Native forests were becoming depleted and pines were being planted in more accessible areas. This cinema slide showed the new wood as safe, cheap and easy to build with. This slide was shown locally but similar slides wouldn't have been shown down South- amble supplies of native timber there meant that the pine did not take over until the 1960s. 

R.N Speirs had a long history in Foxton- Kete Horowhenua records show them on the town's Main Street as far back as 1905. They were still in Main Street in 1960 with their premises between Cook and Union Streets. Records do not show them there in 1965 so this cinema slide must have been made before then.

R.N Speirs were timber merchants and this slide was made in the middle of the 1950s/1960s building boom. Advertising Pinex (made in New Zealand since 1941) would have been important in the 1950s- exotic pine was replacing native timbers as the preferred building material of choice due to pine being fast growing. Native forests were becoming depleted and pines were being planted in more accessible areas. 

This cinema slide showed the new wood as safe, cheap and easy to build with. This slide was shown locally but similar slides wouldn't have been shown down South- amble supplies of native timber there meant that the pine did not take over until the 1960s.

Four generations of the Roache family have worked at Roaches Concrete products. Founded in the mid 1950s, it has been a continuous presence in Foxton ever since. In 1971 David Roache and his wife Pauline bought the firm from David's father and it became a limited liability company (so this slide was made before that year). In 1994 the company moved to its current (as of 2023) Foxton location off State Highway One so it had room to grow. 

Roaches Concrete is still trading but many of MAVtech's cinema advertising slides are from business which closed long ago. Unlike a costly national campaign, cinema slides could be shown in a select group of local theatres which meant they could be targeted to the local audience. Slides were generally shown during intermission and for a couple of seconds at a time- otherwise the heat from the projector would crack them!

This slide probably would have been shown in Foxton and Levin cinemas only.

A.E Corley was a Foxton building firm active around the 1950s. Kete Horowhenua records show that they built Foxton's 'Podmore Flats' at the base of Seaview Gardens in the 1950s and they were also responsible for 'The Rose Bowl' dining rooms.

Cinema advertising slides were a cheap way for local businesses to advertise. Making it even cheaper were generic slides like this one- a drawing of a house represented all builders with the specific details printed on the window below. Most of these slides were shown during intermission

Black and white photograph.

Fire at the New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd on 16 November 1933. Bystanders are watching smoke billow out of the building, while a man has climbed to the top of the pole on the left hand side of the photograph.

Black and white photograph.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Foxton Historical Society”

Public Library on the corner of Oxford and Bath Streets, Levin.

There is a crowd of people at the front of the building, possibly for the opening day of the library.

Photographed ca 1909 by an unidentified photographer.

From National Library Collection - 1 negative, ID: 1/2-139937-F

Penciled on back: “PNPL / D46 Opening of Reikorangi skimming station c.1902 -[but opening given as 1904 from Massey archives] Adjacent to P.O. site. From here, cream sent by horse transport to Waikanae and then by rail to Otaki. Back row 2nd from left, white beard, Alf Monk. Front row 4th from left : R. Stubbings. 3rd from right : Byron Brown.”

Reikorangi Cream Skimming Station Opening, c.1902-04. From here the cream was sent by horse transport to Waikanae and then by rail to Otaki.

1 B&W photo print copy

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Printed on front of mounting board, top right, with black ink: “P 53”

Written below pictures 1 and 2, as caption: “The whares left by Mr P. Bartholomew after the removal of his sawmill. 11.1.14.”

Written below picture 3, as caption: “The old sawmill site from the terrace near the main gate leading into Leighton paddock. 11.1.14.”

Written on back with black ballpoint pen - The Bartholomew sawmill occupied this site by the Makahika river from 1906. Late in 1913 the machinery was removed to a new site near the Makaretu junction with Ohau. G.L. Adkin renovated the whare next the low knoll (The ‘Kopje’) so that he could camp there while developing North Block. After he had married Maud Herd ( in December 1915) they spent nearly three months living here while ‘Woodside’ homestead was built on Section 42, Queen Street East. They called it ‘Sonoma’, after ‘The Valley of the Moon’ in Jack London’s novel of that name. (Adkin Coll, A.T.L)

Stamped on back with black ink – Horowhenua Historical Society. Acc. No. Date

Three photographs of the old sawmill site, Makahika River, Horowhenua, 1 November 1914. Picture (1) top – Whare (door open) and saddled horse. Picture (2) centre – Same whare (left) and 2nd whare (right). Picture (3) bottom – Remains of sawmill site & the whares.

1 B&W photo print copy, mounted (composite)

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Must be acknowledged to the Alexander Turnbull Library . Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference No. 19864 1/2

The flour mill which was situated on the banks of the Waiothu Stream at Otaki. This mill was built by T. Dodds & Son about 1848-50.

1 B&W photo print copy

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Penciled on back – 2/3/71 Mall Development. Negative No. 18

Mall Development, view behind Oxford St. shops, 1971 1 B&W photo print

Negative No. 18

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Inscription on reverse reads: “Inside Nye Homestead.”

Interior view of Nye House in Newth Road with two women standing in doorway.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Foxton Historical Society”

Inscription on reverse reads: “Nye homestead, Newth Rd. Foxton 1980.”

Nye homestead, Newth Road, south of Foxton, taken from the north, 1980.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Foxton Historical Society”

Inscription on reverse of photograph reads: “Inside of ceiling at Nye house.”

Inside the ceiling of the Nye homestead, Newth Road, Foxton.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Foxton Historical Society”

Penciled on back – 21/5/71 1 of many multi units sold as own your own flats. Winchester St. near Ely Place. Negative No. 28

Multi-unit ‘own-your-own’ flats, Winchester St., 1971 1 B&W photo print

Negative No. 28

Construction nearing completion.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

0011 HJP 0373 HHL Group building, Part of NZ Care group 92 Cambridge street, Levin 17-3-2019

24-2-2019Levin Hope Centre’s pastor Tony Collis in the historic St John’s church building’

Situated behind the Oxford Hotel 8-1-2019

Penciled on back - Shown assembling gates during a working bee of [? by] members of the Horowhenua A.P.I. Assoc. at the pig pavilion are Mr E.L. Hooper (at left) and Mr Clarance Morrison. Sat. Oct. 4, 1969.

Stamped on back with black ink - Horowhenua Historical Society. Acc. No. 137 Date.

A.P.& I. Association working bee, 1969 1 B&W photo print

Shown assembling gates at the pig pavilion are - Mr E.L. Hooper (left) and Mr L. Morrison (right).

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Penciled on back - Progress on construction of the Horowhenua API association’s new office block, a gift from the Grace McFarlane Trust. Fri. Aug. 22, 1969.

Stamped on back with black ink - Horowhenua Historical Society. Acc. No. 137 Date.

Construction of the new office block at the A.P.& I. showgrounds, 1969.

1 B&W photo print

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”