In 1874 Julius Vogel replaced the Wellington Independent with his new paper, the New Zealand Times, to be used to further his political ambitions. His ambition for the New Zealand Times to become a national newspaper didn’t succeed. Geographic and economic realities meant that it was not feasible to distribute a Wellington-based daily newspaper to Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and elsewhere in a timely enough manner. 

In the 1890s the New Zealand Times became closely aligned with the Liberal Party and both John Ballance and William Pember Reeves spent time as directors.

In 1907 a strong competitor entered the Wellington morning newspaper market when the Dominion was established by conservative political interests. The Dominion won the battle with its more liberal rival and in 1927 purchased and closed the New Zealand Times.

Pat Lawlor (Confessions of a Journalist, 1935) notes that the New Zealand Times was involved in a number of firsts including being the first daily newspaper in New Zealand to place news on the front page and ‘the first to go in extensively for illustrations’.