Gisborne Times

The Gisborne Times was established in 1901 by Hamilton Thomas Jones (1866-1925), Edward Arthur Slack (1855-1933), and Walter James Payne Gaudin (c.1873-1935). One of several newspapers in the wider Gisborne district, the Times was staffed by a number of enterprising and dedicated printers, managers, and editors throughout its life. Published as a morning daily for 37 years, the Times offered a Liberal point of view in contrast to the more conservative views of the evening paper, the Poverty Bay Herald.

The Times had begun life as a weekly newspaper known as the Telephone, established in 1895 (the second newspaper in the Gisborne district to be called the Telephone). This second Telephone was published bi-weekly from 1899, and briefly as a tri-weekly, until Jones, Slack, and Gaudin were confident enough to challenge the dominance of the daily Poverty Bay Herald. The result was the Gisborne Times, first published on 2 January 1901. Its printing office was on Peel Street and Jones acted as the paper’s first editor.

Gaudin left the Times in 1903 and three years later, in 1906, the Gisborne Times Company was formed. James Attridge Connell (c.1857-1938), an experienced editor and recognised chess player, was hired as editor and manager in the same year. Unfortunately, his employment with the Times ended badly and he took an unsuccessful action against the company for libel and wrongful dismissal. The Gisborne Times Company became the Gisborne Publishing Company in 1910.

Joseph Angus Mackay (1882-1952) became editor and manager of the Times in 1911 and held the role for 26 years, until his retirement in 1937. He was a highly-respected journalist and, under his direction, the Times continued to challenge the monopoly of the Herald. Mackay was also a tireless advocate for local history and wrote the landmark book Historic Poverty Bay and the East Coast. He retired in April 1937 and was briefly succeeded by Richard James Eastwood (c.1879-1945), an experienced sub-editor of fifteen years.

The Gisborne Times had been sold to Robert James Kerridge (1901-1979), the well-known entrepreneur and cinema proprietor, the previous month. Kerridge changed the paper’s name to The Times, as well as changing the masthead and type. He later appointed T H Carmichael, a London journalist, as editor, replacing Eastwood. Kerridge also lowered the subscription price by 3 pence a week, to the chagrin of the Herald, forcing it to do likewise.

A year later, the Herald purchased the Times and closed it down, with the last issue of the Times published on 18 April 1938. The Herald retained most of the Times’ staff and the following year changed its name to the Gisborne Herald, partly in an effort to distance itself from the unflattering name ‘Poverty Bay’ given to the area by Captain Cook in 1769.

As of 2020 the Gisborne Herald was still published daily, as one of the few independently-operated daily newspapers in New Zealand.