Wairarapa Times-Age

In 1938, the two Masterton dailies, the morning Wairarapa Age and evening Wairarapa Daily Times, combined to become the Wairarapa Times-Age.

It was unusual for two competing newspapers to merge amicably but as the Age said in its last editorial:

'It is hoped and believed that this act of voluntary amalgamation on even terms will be as satisfactory and acceptable to the people of the district generally as it is to those associated hitherto with the conduct of the two competing newspapers which have now combined and pooled their resources in order that the Wairarapa may be given an extended and improved news and publicity service.' (31 March 1938: 4) 

While both dailies were operating successfully, Wairarapa’s population had not grown much over the inter-war period, from 8,525 in 1930 to 8,950 in 1935, and the directors of the two companies saw a clear financial advantage in merging their publishing interests.

Planning for the merger had begun by early 1937 and in May 1937 drawings for a new building to house the merged newspapers were ready to go out to tender.

On 31 March 1938, the Age printed its last issue in Hall Street and the Daily Times in Church Street, the latter closing accompanied by a special ceremony:

'For the last time since the Wairarapa Daily Times was established in the Church Street building 60 years ago, the ceremony of ‘gathering round the stone’ on these premises took place on Saturday night, when members of the mechanical, clerical, advertising and literary staffs of the Wairarapa Daily Times, Wairarapa Age, and the Masterton Printing Company, met to observe an old newspaper custom …. ' (28 March 1938: 4)

The first issue of the Wairarapa Times-Age, an evening paper like the Daily Times, was published in the new, art deco building on the corner of Chapel and Cole Streets on 1 April 1938.  The Wairarapa Times Age Company Ltd had a capital of £22,600 in shares of £1 each. The two merging companies each held 11,300 shares (New Zealand Herald, 11 April 1938: 7).               

D M Graham, formerly managing-editor of the Daily Times, became general manager of the merged venture and the Age’s editor, W A Michael, headed the literary department.

With no local competition, the Times-Age suffered relatively minor paper shortage problems during World War Two and thrived during the post-war period. Douglas Graham was succeeded as general manager by E J Brown, formerly managing-editor of the Age, and then S D Leitch. Mervyn Keane, of Dunedin, succeeded W A Michael as editor in March 1957. Before he moved to Masterton, Michael, who died in May 1965, had been the Dominion’s Press Gallery correspondent and, later, chief leader writer. 

With no immediate competition, the Times-Age ran with a degree of complacency through the final decades of the century, its elderly directors, with little practical newspaper experience, seemingly unaware that newspapers to the north and south were nibbling away at its circulation.

In 2002 the newspaper was bought by Wilson & Horton which was subsequently acquired by APN News & Media. APN sold the newspaper to locally owned National Media Ltd in 2016.