This slide is another from MAVtech's collection which focuses on the New Zealand Government's recruitment efforts during World War One. A sticking point for many men was leaving their wives and sweethearts if they enlisted, and this slide tries to counter this. It suggests that even if women were saying for men to go, they were thinking it and hit this point home by insinuating that the 'real men' were in uniform. 

The slide even portrays the New Zealand nation as a young women, urging men to leap to her defence. At the same time as this slide screened there were posters pitched towards women. These said that if a man would abandon his country in a time of need he would abandon his wife as well. 

Despite these slides many men were understandably cautious about signing up and risking being shot, and the government introduced conscription in 1916.

All combatant countries in the Second World War came to realise just how expensive modern warfare can be. In New Zealand taxes tripled between 1940 and 1945 so the necessary capital could be raised, with the government taxing to the economic limit.

For those with surplus funds, "National Savings Bonds" were introduced. These were loans made to the government for war purposes to be paid back (with some interest) when peace returned. By 1946, over forty million pounds had been invested in the scheme.   ‘Lend to defend the right to be free!’ was the overarching motto of National Savings and was put on posters, cinema slides and savings books.

With 30 million tickets sold in 1939, New Zealand's cinemas was the perfect place to attract attention!  

The mention of the serviceperson's sacrifice as a compelling reason to offer savings harks back to a theme in the First World War. In New Zealand some labour unions urged the government to raise taxes on the wealthy, arguing that if people's lives were being conscripted, so should capital. This was not directly taken up (but was effected indirectly through taxes on luxury items) and the idea was repeated on this slide.

Who are the people in this magic lantern slide? Where is this house? Why is there so much mud? And, most importantly, had anyone heard of firearms safety? The child in the picture must be hoping that the gun isn't loaded.

If anyone can answer these questions (or can decipher the writing on this slide) please let the MAVtech Museum know! In the absence of any answers we can see why this slide is important: many family photographs and postcards show groups outside of houses. With land needing to be broken in, families outside their properties were seen as a kind of colonial pride.

What they are holding also speaks volumes about how people saw themselves (or at least, how they wanted to be seen). The man is holding a gun and is seen as a powerful provider. The boy holds a hammer- has he been helping with the work? The lady holds a book (a Bible perhaps? This was common for womens' photographs in Western countries back then). And the young lady looks ready to go to school or church in her neat hat and tidy clothing. These themes were often used in professional photographs and subconsciously spilled over into many early snapshots. 

Mind you- this could also be a professional photograph.

Also, this is a lantern slide, designed to be projected onto a wall. Unlike a personal photo album, these  slides were usually viewed as a large group. Extended family? A soldier overseas in the First World War? (the Dunedin Photographic Society took photographs of families that soldier relatives could then view near the front. These were all magic lantern slides.)

Photographs are often seen as perfect windows into the past but this one holds more questions than answers! 

Palmer's Sports Specialists seems to have started a long history in Levin with it's descendant, Sportsworld, trading on Oxford Street until July 2022.

According to the last owners of Sportsworld, Palmer's Sports Specialists started trading in the late 1950s and this cinema advertising slide looks to have been made around that time. From boating to hunting to tennis it shows a cross section of popular sports! A witty pun may have caused a chuckle in the cinemas. With the average New Zealander making around seventeen trips to the 'flicks' in 1960 (with forty million tickets sold that year) this slide would have had a big audience.

A closer look at this slide shows the hand coloured photography which was very popular at the time. The colouring on this slide looks quite rushed compared to many others from the decade.

Penciled on back - A duck shooter for the last 57 years, Levin hunter Mr E.E. (Bunny) Ranish in preparation for the opening of the season on Saturday. Thurs. April 29, 1971.

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

Mr E.E. “Bunny” Ranish (Levin), a duck shooter for the last 57 years, prepares for the opening of the duck shooting season. 1 B&W photo print

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