Hawke's Bay Weekly Times

The Hawke's Bay Weekly Times was the weekly edition of the Hawke's Bay Times, and started on 6 Feb 1865. It contained a summary of the previous week's stories in the Hawke's Bay Times and was intended as a cheap alternative to the daily paper for people living in the isolated rural areas of Hawke's Bay. The paper was published on a Monday costing six pence compared with the Times, which was published three times a week at three pence an issue, therefore saving three pence for subscribers to the weekly edition.

The Hawke's Bay Times was first published in 1861 by Yates Brothers Printers. They sold the paper to Thomas Bennick Harding in 1865. It is possible that the weekly edition was part of the new regime under Harding.

Little is known of the Hawke's Bay Times' editorial stance but it appears to have struggled against two other papers, the Hawke's Bay Herald and the Daily Telegraph. The Hawke's Bay Herald had been running since 1857 and was the mouthpiece of the landowners while the Daily Telegraph, which began in 1871, represented the region's commercial interests. It seems the Hawke's Bay Times was unable to compete against these two powerful and competing papers, and stopped publishing in 1874.

The Hawke's Bay Weekly Times had already stopped publication in December 1868 without explanation. It may have been due to poor sales combined with an economic depression that struck the region between 1867 and 1868.

The Daily Telegraph had also attempted to produce a weekly edition. However this paper, the Weekly Mercury and Hawke's Bay Advertiser (first published in 1875) also failed due to poor sales and stopped production in 1882.