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An interesting sideline is that it is stated in Ref time the Bureau had 3,000 reels of 28mm films
10 that toy projectors for 28mm film were made and only 171 reels of 16mm). When an Order-
by Keystone as well as Cummings. in-Council for the reorganisation of the Bureau
was signed by the Lieutenant Governor on 26th
Meanwhile Pathescope of Canada had been October 1934 the Ontario Motion Picture
established in 1914 with H Norton DeWitt as Bureau ceased to exist and so did the last large
President and principal shareholder (Ref 14). Its scale use of 28mm.
initial activities had been concentrated on
selling 28mm projectors and distributing In addition to obtaining prints from 35rnm
entertainment and educational shorts and originals some films were made using 28mm
features through its connections with cameras. Pathe Freres produced such a camera
Pathescope in the USA and the Pathe Company early in the history of the gauge although they
of France. Interest in the use of film by the are extremely rare today. One such camera is
Ontario Government dates from at least 1914- owned by Mike Trickett of Geelong, Australia.
15 and in May 1917 the Ontario Government of box construction this camera was designed to
established its principal Motion Picture Bureau be mounted on a tripod and hand cranked. The
in Toronto but it did not produce its own films body is of wood, leather covered with a hinged
before 1923. By May of 1919 the Bureau had front panel for access to the lens and a rear
made considerable progress. It had a library of cover which hinges upwards for full access
some 200 films, not all of which had been made
for it and the forty-seven district representatives
of the Department of Agriculture had each been
equipped with portable 28mm projectors and
batteries for use when there was no local power.
It was said that almost 700,000 Ontario citizens
had seen the Bureau's films since 1919.

However things eventually began to go wrong
for the Bureau, one major factor that had also
sealed the fate of 28mm in the USA, was the
introduction of 16mm by Kodak in 1922. The
Liberal Government of Canada under Mitchell
Hepburn asked the then director George Pation
in July 1934 to produce a report on the purposes Fig. 6 Pathe 28mm camera.
and activities of the Bureau. In October the
Premier asked R C Buckley, Chief Inspector of
Theatres for his recommendations on the future to the rear compartment. Feed and take-up
of the Bureau. Buckley pointed out the spools were enclosed in light-tight drums,
inadequacies of a film rental library based on which permitted camera loading in daylight.
the outdated 28mm gauge and other These drums were mounted side by side which
deficiencies of the Bureau. He recommended arrangement necessitated a twisted film path.
that their Trenton studios be closed immediately The lens is an f/4.5 anastigmat in a helical
and that all film production should cease. He focussing mount but with no scale. It was set at
recommended that the Film Rentals Branch its hyperfocal distance for normal use but could
should move rapidly over to 16mm. (At that be critically focussed by placing a ground-glass