Central Hawke's Bay Press

The Waipukurau Press, published in Waipukurau in central Hawke’s Bay, 7 kms south of Waipawa, thrived as a three-days-a-week newspaper in the 1920s. By 1927 eight-page issues were common. A modern brick and concrete factory was built in Ruataniwha Street in 1927 and by 1930 the paper circulated in Waipukurau Borough, Waipukurau, Waipawa and Patangata Counties.

Archibald Holms was editor, although not continuously, from 1925 to 1936.

After the 1931 earthquake, the Press moved to daily publication, and in 1936 became the Central Hawke’s Bay Press, the name and publication enduring for decades. Later in the decade the paper carried front-page news.

In 1938, the Central Hawke’s Bay Press had new owners – Charlie Forbes, Wilk Hopkinson and Dick Clark. Other members of their families became shareholders later.

During World War Two there was a much greater focus on world news, but with severe paper shortages there were four-page issues from 1943. Still published in Waipukurau, the paper dropped its Saturday edition in 1945, but continued to publish five days a week. Frank Ward managed the Waipukurau Press Co for 34 years until 1956. He died in 1958, aged 67.

In the early 1950s, with wider columns and clearer type, production was more professional, but headlines remained small and photographs were rarely used.

Later in the 1950s, the Press cost 3d an issue or one shilling a week. Four-page issues featured Press Association news from round the country and overseas on the front page, local and minor PA news on pages 2-3, and advertisements on the back page.

In 1977, Hawke’s Bay Newspapers, publishers of the Hawke’s Bay Herald Tribune, purchased a 50 percent share in the Press company; the next year it bought the weekly Waipawa Mail.

The Central Hawke’s Bay Press merged with the Waipawa Mail in 1980 and continued to be published in Waipukurau as the Mail. When publication of the Press ended in November 1980, it was circulating to 4,500 households in Central Hawke’s Bay. Later, as part of CHB Print, a division of Hawke’s Bay Newspapers, it became the weekly CHB Mail, and then the Central Hawke's Bay Mail.

In 1997, Hawke’s Bay Newspapers was purchased by Wilson & Horton, publishers of the New Zealand Herald, then owned by the Dublin-based Independent News & Media Group (INM).

In 2003, Wilson & Horton was sold to APN New Zealand which, in 2014, became part of NZME Publishing Limited. As of 2024, NZME continued to publish the weekly.