New Zealand Mail

The New Zealand Mail was a weekly paper established by Thomas Wilmor McKenzie (1827-1911) in 1871. Described as the ‘father of the New Zealand press’, McKenzie was first employed by the New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator after he arrived in New Zealand in 1840. He established the Wellington Independent in 1845.

In January 1871 McKenzie’s Wellington Independent included the following statement ‘On Saturdays, we intend publishing a "weekly," containing all the news of the week and a great amount of matter, original and selected, specially interesting to country settlers. Our first "weekly" will appear next Saturday, and will tell its own story’. This signalled the start of the New Zealand Mail, which began as a 20-page paper, and soon grew to be 24 pages long.

Two years later, the New Zealand Mail was purchased by noted journalist, and later Premier, Julius Vogel (1835-1899). Vogel moved to Wellington in 1873 due to his political commitments – he became Premier for the first time in April of that year. He also established the New Zealand Times Company, which purchased the New Zealand Mail from McKenzie, and then the Wellington Independent as well. McKenzie stayed on as manager and secretary of the New Zealand Times Company.

Both Vogel and McKenzie hoped to make the New Zealand Mail the leading national weekly but this never happened. Vogel moved to London in 1876 and eventually sold the New Zealand Mail to J Chantry Harris (1830-1895) in late 1879. The paper was then purchased by Captain William Baldwin in 1890, and then acquired by a second New Zealand Times Company in 1892.

Given Vogel’s interest and involvement in politics as a member of the Liberal Party, the newspapers he owned, including the New Zealand Mail, strongly supported the Liberal point of view. His sale of the newspaper did not change this, with Liberal politician William Pember Reeves (1857–1932) being appointed the managing director of the new company.

In 1893, the New Zealand Mail was expanded, and Charles Wilson, formerly both sub-editor on the New Zealand Times and editor of the New Zealand Mail, gave up his work on the daily Times to concentrate on the Mail. By the middle of the year, its sister paper the New Zealand Times was happily printing other newspapers’ opinions from around New Zealand that described the new Mail in glowing terms. By then the New Zealand Mail had expanded to 46 pages, and included illustrations. Wilson remained as editor and manager until 1901 when he was appointed as librarian for the General Assembly Library.

In 1902 both the New Zealand Mail and the New Zealand Times moved into a new building on Lambton Quay, which had a photographic studio and two dark rooms on the top floor. In August 1902 the New Zealand Mail started devoting a number of pages to photographs.

In 1908 the New Zealand Mail was purchased by the NZ Graphic Company, and became part of the Weekly Graphic and New Zealand Mail. From 2 July 1913, the Weekly Graphic and New Zealand Mail became incorporated into the Auckland Weekly News. The Auckland Weekly News, well known for its bright pink cover and multi-page photo spreads, continued to be published until 1971.