Waipukurau Press

Named after a nearby Māori pa, Waipukurau is a town in the central Hawke’s Bay. Waipukurau had its own newspaper later than other Hawke’s Bay towns.  It was not until late December 1905 that James Claridge launched the bi-weekly Waipukurau Press, despite several other regional papers being freely available in the township. Claridge did not linger and the paper had a succession of owners.

Between 1906-1908, the Press was owned by G W Venables and Robert Wilson. The next owner was William Phipps, formerly on the staff of the New Zealand Times; he was followed in 1909 by W E Bennett and E A Urwin from Hawera.

By this time the four-page paper was published on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with copies selling at 1d. Advertising filled the front page, and there was more advertising on the following three, interspersed with snippets of local news and letters-to-the-editor.

In 1911, Ernest Urwin bought out William Bennett, upgraded equipment and moved the paper to a two-storied building in Ruataniwha Street.  Frank Eyre became a partner in May 1913. In November 1916, a public company Waipukurau Publishing Co Ltd was established, with Eyre remaining manager and editor until 1921. Subsequently, Frank V Ward and D R Fisher formed the Waipukurau Press Co Ltd, with Ward becoming sole owner in December 1923. 

By 1925, the Press routinely published six-page issues, with another two pages added in 1927. The paper was now published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with two editions a day. There was a marked increase in local news, with sport given generous coverage. Archibald Holms was editor from 1925 to, with some gaps, 1936.

A modern brick and concrete factory was built in Ruataniwha Street in 1927 and by 1930 the paper circulated in Waipawa County, Waipukurau Borough, Waipukurau County and Patangata County. 

In 1931, the Press became a daily. Later that decade the paper carried front-page news and in 1936 there was a name change to Central Hawke’s Bay Press. During World War Two there was a much greater focus on world news, with four-page issues from 1943. The Saturday edition was dropped in 1945. 

Frank Ward managed the Waipukurau Press Co for 34 years until 1956. He died in 1958, aged 67. 

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 was merged with the Waipawa Mail in 1980, the combined Mail still published in Waipukurau. Later, as part of CHB Print, a division of Hawke’s Bay Newspapers, it became the weekly CHB Mail.

In 1997, Hawke’s Bay Newspapers was purchased by Wilson & Horton, publishers of the NZ 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, resulting in another name change to Central Hawke’s Bay Mail. As of 2023, NZME continued to publish the weekly.