Lake County Press

The predecessor of the Lake County Press, the Arrow Observer and Lakes District Chronicle, published its first issue on 23 May 1871 in the gold-mining settlement of Arrowtown. William Warren of Queenstown’s Lake Wakatip Mail and Stephen Noble Brown, who later ran the Cromwell Argus, were involved in the establishment of the Observer.

At around the same as the Arrow Observer began, a rival in the form of the Arrow Advocate and Wakatip Reporter also appeared. Little is known about this newspaper and it is thought that no issues have survived. The owners of the Cromwell Argus were involved in establishing the Advocate and the Otago Daily Times commented that its first issue ‘contains a large amount of reading matter, well selected and arranged’. Competition between the Observer and the Advocate appears to have been strong, with the Otago Witness commenting that they ‘devote a large portion of their space to abusing each other.’ The Observer won the paper war, with the Advocate’s demise being reported in September 1871.

The Arrow Observer continued until 1882; its struggles over the years were acknowledged by its last owner Ebenezer Sandford who commented in the final issue on ‘the poor figure cut by the paper’.

The Observer was replaced by the Lake County Press, which was published by Sandford and J T Marryat Hornsby. In 1883 rivalry with the Lake Wakatip Mail escalated into legal proceedings after the Mail published a scathing article about a public address by Hornsby. Hornsby was awarded damages for libel after the jury held that the Mail had implied Hornsby was a convict by saying he came from Tasmania.

Philip de la Perrelle, who was only in his early twenties, bought the Lake County Press in 1895 and ran the newspaper until 1914. De la Perrelle was later elected to Parliament and served as Minister of Internal Affairs from 1928-1931 in the Ward and Forbes cabinets.

The Lake County Press ran until 1928 when it was absorbed by the Lake Wakatip Mail.