Wairarapa Daily Times (Joseph Payton, proprietor), Church Street, Masterton. Telegraphic address, “Daily, Masterton.” P.O. Box 52. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. Private residence of proprietor, Victoria Street. The Daily, which is issued every evening, was established by Mr. Payton in 1878. Politically the journal has decided leaning to the Conservative side. In circulates throughout a wide district embracing the whole of the Wairarapa and Forty-mile Bush, and is a capital medium for advertisers. The proprietor is a subscriber to the New Zealand Press Association, thus securing the latest cablegrams for the numerous subscribers and casual readers of the Wairarapa Daily Times. The machinery includes all necessary plant, and is driven by a gas-engine of one-and-a-half horse-power. Mr. Payton is an importer of paper bags, picture almanacs, and other materials. Born in Warwickshire, England, he came to New Zealand in 1865 per ship “James Lister.” For a time he was in partnership with the late Mr. Richard Wakelin, of Greytown, commonly known as the father of New Zealand journalism.

Wairarapa Star (Proprietor and Editor, William Clement Cargill), corner of Queen and Hall Streets. Telegraphic and cable address, “Star, Masterton.” P.O. Box 19. Bankers, Bank of New South Wales. Agents and correspondents throughout the North Island. On arrival in the Colony, in 1888, Mr. Cargill decided to see something of New Zealand before locating himself. It was not till 1892 that the Wairarapa Star became the property of Mr. Cargill. The paper dates back from 1881, since which time it has regularly been issued. The building occupied by the Star, as it is familiarly called in the Wairarapa, is a two-story building, built of wood and iron, containing about 3000 square feet of floorage space. The motive power is a gas engine of two-and a-half-horse-power. The machinery includes a double royal printing press for the paper, guillotine, and smaller presses for general jobbing work. From fourteen to twenty hands are employed in the composing, machining and delivering of the dailies and weekly. The paper circulates throughout the entire Wairarapa, as well as through the Forty-Mile Bush. The papers have extensive circulations in the districts where they are local, and are also sent as exchanges to the various newspapers of the Colony. Mr. Cargill is a direct importer from England and America of paper suitable for the requirements of his business. Having established first-rate connections with some of the best houses in the “world's metropolis,” Mr. Cargill is enabled to buy “rigbt,” which is indeed an all-important matter, and one that will tend almost more than any other to the success of an office. As an advertising agency, the Wairarapa Star is a grand medium, circulating throughout the length and breadth of a vast and fertile district. It is equally good for the local business notice, as well as for the merchant or manufacturer at the seaports of the Colony, while for British firms seeking to do a trade with New Zealand, it has few superiors. The Star is published daily as an evening paper. It has four pages, and measures twenty-eight by forty-five inches. Mr. Cargill has been successful in his management of the Star, which has espoused the Liberal cause freely and forcibly. On all matters of local politics, the Star sheds a bright light, ever seeking to lead the public sentiments in the direction of real improvement, while at the same time endeavouring to restrain from all rash ventures. It is essentially a local paper, and as such its columns contain interesting items from the numerous correspondents in the various centres of population. Telegrams from the chief towns of the Colony, and cable-grams from the great world beyond, all find a place in the columns of the Star, and there is no wonder that it continues to grow in public favour and support. In conjunction with the Star, Mr. Cargill publishes the Eketahuna and Pahiatua Mail daily, at 11 a.m., in time for the morning train. The Weekly Star is issued each Thursday. It is a sixteen page journal, thirteen-and-a-half by seventeen inches, and contains a vast fund of information, instructive and amusing. A supplement, containing a well-written serial story, science notes, and other matter, is issued with the Weekly Star.

Mr. Arthur H. Vile, the acting Editor of the Wairarapa Star, who is he second son of one of the earliest settlers in the Wairarapa, was born in Masterton in 1867, and educated locally. Apprenticed in the Wairarapa Daily Times office, after five years he went to Victoria, and, at the age of twenty, was appointed manager and editor of the St. Arnaud Mercury. Mr. Vile returned to New Zealand in 1889, and for three years acted as sub-editor of the Wairarapa Daily Times, being appointed in 1893 to his present position. Mr. Vile takes a keen interest in local public matters, being elected in 1893 to the Trust Lands Trust by a large majority. As a member of that body he used his influence to secure a town hall for Masterton. Chiefly through his efforts a measure was passed through Parliament authorising the ratepayers to borrow £2500 for the purpose. After two years fighting, the proposal to raise the loan was carried by a large majority of the ratepayers. In recognition of his efforts, Mr. Vile has been called the “father of the town hall.” He has served on the local school committee, and was the promoter of the Wairarapa Liberal Association, of which he is also secretary. He has also taken a keen interest in technical education, and is a member of the Technical School Committee. He has been correspondent for the leading provincial papers for several years. Mr. Vile is married, and has two children.