Wairoa Bell

In late 1889, John Stallworthy (1854–1923), the head teacher at Aratapu School near Dargaville, bought a fledgling newspaper called the Kopuru Bell. The Bell was printed at Te Kopuru, a small settlement south of Aratapu. After buying the newspaper, Stallworthy increased its size and changed its name to the Wairoa Bell; the Wairoa was the river that ran alongside both Aratapu and Te Kopuru.

The Board of Education were not impressed to discover Stallworthy was running a newspaper. The New Zealand Herald reported that Stallworthy spent the Christmas holidays in the printing office at Kopuru, then employed three staff when school started at the beginning of 1890. Despite Stallworthy suggesting there was no difference in the demands on his time of owning a newspaper and teachers who privately tutored pupils in the evenings, the Board were strongly opposed and decided to terminate Stallworthy’s employment. Stallworthy then moved the printing office to Aratapu and focused his attention on making an income as a newspaper proprietor.

The Observer reported on the changes to the Kopuru Bell and noted that Stallworthy seemed apt to learn the journalistic trade. He did have some prior experience of newspaper production. In 1884 he established the Aratapu Gazette, which was a handwritten account of the area’s news. For each issue he produced 80 copies by cyclostyle.

From 1896 to 1898 Stallworthy leased the Northern Advertiser newspaper, which was published 10 kilometres north in Dargaville. At the end of the lease, he decided to purchase the newspaper, its freehold premises and plant. He amalgamated the two newspapers into one – the Wairoa Bell and Northern Advertiser – and changed it to a bi-weekly.

A fire on 15 November 1908 destroyed the offices of the Wairoa Bell. However, thanks to the generosity of his rival, the North Auckland Times, Stallworthy was able to print 1,000 copies of his newspaper using their press five days later.

Stallworthy also represented Kaipara in Parliament from 1905 to 1911. His son Arthur (1877-1954) took over as editor, eventually buying the newspaper from his father in 1911. During his tenure, Arthur increased publication to three times a week by 1916 and by 1919 was publishing the Bell as a daily.

John Stallworthy died in 1923. Shortly after his death, Arthur sold the newspaper to Charles Spurgeon Rush (1874-1952) and Charles Louis Bagnall (1883-1949), the owners of the North Auckland Times. The last issue of the Wairoa Bell and Northern Advertiser was published on 31 December that year. From January 1924, it was amalgamated into the North Auckland Times.