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- Marlborough Daily Times
This is the third of the newspapers to be known as the Marlborough Times. The first began in Picton in 1864, as a result of the recent gold discoveries in the Wakamarina River. It lasted just over 7 months.
The second Marlborough Times was established in Blenheim in 1874 by the Marlborough Times Company. The company purchased the printing plant of the Marlborough News and incorporated the News into the new Times. It lasted just over two years, closing in August 1876.
On Friday 28 March 1879 the third newspaper to be named the Marlborough Times appeared. Another bi-weekly, the proprietor was John Tait (c.1850-1882), who had been involved in the 1874-1876 newspaper. The Times left its political leanings in no doubt, describing the Grey government as ‘Born in senile puerility, [this government] has made no attempt at a policy which has not resulted in failure, and looking even at their administration alone, the verdict of the people must be—the most impotent Government ever known in this country.’
The Times became a daily from January 1882 and consequently became known as the Marlborough Daily Times. Shortly after this, Tait died, and the Times was put up for sale. It went through a number of owners between 1882 and 1894 and had a difficult time in various ways. The editor Richard Winter died in August 1887 from injuries caused by a large fire; the newspaper plant, stock and debts were put up for a mortgagee sale in November 1889; publication of the paper was then suspended in December 1889, due to financial problems; and the Mahakipawa Miners Union boycotted the paper in August 1890. However, it survived all of this, as well as a fire that totally destroyed the premises in 1891, until 1895, when it was purchased by Smith James Furness (1852-1921).
Furness was the owner of the Times’ long-time rival, the Marlborough Express. Rather than closing the Times, Furness made it a morning paper, hoping to protect himself from other competitors starting up in the region. This worked until the Marlborough Herald started up in September 1905. At that stage Furness closed the Times in order to focus on the Express. The Express went on to outlive its rivals, with the Herald folding in 1911 and the Marlborough Press being absorbed into the Express in 1948.
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This newspaper was digitised in partnership with the Golden Bay Genealogy Group and Lorna Langford.