''The Dominion'' was a broadsheet metropolitan morning daily

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published in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand, from 1907 to 2002. It was first published on 26 September 1907, the day New Zealand achieved Dominion status. It merged with '' The Evening Post'', Wellington's afternoon daily newspaper, to form '' The Dominion Post'' in 2002. ''The Dominion'' was founded by Wellington Publishing Company Limited, a public listed company formed for the purpose twelve months earlier by a group of businessmen, rather than newspapermen, "in the Opposition and freehold interests". The existing Wellington morning newspaper ''The New Zealand Times'' had a

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heritage and the big pastoral landowners lacked a voice in the new dominion's capital and its hinterland provinces. Accordingly, ''The Dominions circulation was always soundest outside Greater Wellington, where the long-established and politically neutral ''Evening Post'' always dominated. Early printing and special services delivered ''The Dominion'' the same day throughout the lower North Island. Wellington businessman John Duthie was one of the founding directors and was chairman of the board from 1912 until his death in 1915. ''The Dominion'' promoted the conservative Reform Party and its policies. After twenty years it took over and closed its morning rival ''The New Zealand Times'' in 1927. ''The Dominions ambitious new headquarters building in Mercer Street was completed in 1928. Wellington Publishing Company's operations did not provide a good financial return on investment for its backers. In 1964 negotiations were under way with the Canadian–British

Thomson Newspapers The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organisation Ltd (ITOL) and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to fo ...

organization when a holidaying visitor casually picked up a copy and read of the proposal.

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decided to make a bid, and Wellington Publishing Company became the first international investment by his growing newspaper empire. In 1972 ownership was mergedLetter from the Dominion's chairman, Morvyn Williams. The merger was accomplished by one company buying the other's shares
/ref> with that of its afternoon rival, ''The Evening Post'', to achieve economies such as running the otherwise part-time new printing house of the ''Post'' in two shifts. The new holding company, initially intended to be Amalgamated Publishers, was named

Independent Newspapers Limited Independent Newspapers Limited (INL) was a newspaper publisher in New Zealand. Started as the Wellington Publishing Company in 1906 to publish ''The Dominion'', it began taking over other newspapers in the 1970s and was renamed Independent New ...

(INL). ''The Dominions headquarters building was soon dispensed with. The two newspapers kept their separate identities and rivalries until 2002, when they were replaced by a morning publication named ''The Dominion Post''. In 2003, INL divested itself of its publishing concerns to

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, an Australian company. As of 2012, ''The Dominion Post'' is run from the old Post printing house site in Boulcott Street and printing is in Petone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominion Newspapers published in New Zealand Publications established in 1907 Publications disestablished in 2002 Defunct newspapers published in New Zealand Mass media in Wellington 1907 establishments in New Zealand 2002 disestablishments in New Zealand