Two Hundred Issues!
A Million Copies!
Fifty Thousand News Pictures!
A Quarter Billion Picture Impressions!

Here at "Photo News" we reached a milestone last month. It was the publication of our 200th issue. The honour went to our youngest and fastest-growing magazine "Nelson Photo News". Since "Photo News" was established in Gisborne in 1954, we have published 89 issues here, 66 in New Plymouth, 32 in Wanganui, and 13 in Nelson.

Some interesting figures show the growth of "photo News" in six-and-a-half years. Our plant in Aberdeen Road has now produced more than a million magazines. In them, more than 50,000 newspictures have been printed. The number of individual picture impressions made (mostly with a fidelity approaching that of the original print) has reached the staggering total of 250,000,000.

"Photo News" started in 1954 in two small rooms of a house in Aberdeen Road, printed on a press the size of an office duplicator. The "sections" of the magazine were laboriously assembled by hand, four pages at a time. Production was about 1000 magazines a month.

Remodelled this year, the premises now comprise 800 sq.ft. of office space, 1000 sq, ft. for darkrooms, process camera, and platemaking, 850 sq.ft, for bulk stock storage, and 900 sq. ft. in the machine room.

The modern plant now produces 27,000 magazines a month, with colour covers printed in four colours. The 135,000 "sections" involved are assembled on a semi-automatic machine designed and built in Gisborne.

For speedy delivery to other centres, all magazines are air-freighted. Each time a "Nelson Photo News" is published, for instance, NAC planes carry three-quarters of a ton of "Photo News" bundles to the South Island.

"Photo News" has always followed a policy of doing all work on the premises, to the highest possible technical standards. We understand that we operate the only complete colour processing and printing plant outside the main centres. Additional new machinery of the most modern design, from Sweden and Switzerland, has been ordered and should be installed next year.

With this, the final issue of "Gisborne Photo News" for 1961, we take the opportunity of thanking readers for the unprecedented support accorded the magazine this year, and with our staff join in wishing one and ail.....

A Merry Christmas...............And A Happy And Prosperous New Year