Resultado y análisis de la encuesta aplicada al personal que labora en el Centro de

Two newspapers, both published in Napier, provided much information for this thesis. The Hawke's Bay Herald was researched in detail for the years 1857 (the year publication began) to 1904. In early years, the Herald was published once or twice a week,2 but from 1871 it became a daily paper published each morning, other than on Sundays or public holidays. The Daily Telegraph was researched for the years 1891 to 1968 and was published each afternoon or evening, other than Sundays or public holidays. There were some gaps in the holdings of both newspapers, particularly the Hawke's Bay Herald for the years 1871 to 1876. For most of that period, another Napier newspaper, the Hawke's Bay Times, was used until late 1874 when it ceased publication. A Wellington published newspaper, New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian, was researched for the years 1854 to 1857, covering a period when there were no locally published newspapers. That newspaper included regular reports from Ahuriri, the name commonly used for the Napier locality at that time. For the period immediately following the 1931 earthquake, other New Zealand newspapers were consulted as normal production of Napier newspapers was temporarily halted. Another Napier newspaper, the Marewa Maraenui Messenger,

was published as a community newspaper from 1971 to 1978. Although the publication dates were just outside the period of study, the Messenger included some historical items and other insights about new suburbs in Napier. Overall, about 32,000 newspapers were consulted for this core research. Most were read from microfilm records, but original newspapers were examined when microfilm records were not available.

The large number of newspapers meant that they could not be read in depth, but were rather scanned for major news items, relevant editorials, meeting reports and correspondence. Items that were potentially useful were then noted or copied for later analysis. Typically, such items ranged from detailed reports of two or more columns of text, to items of just one or two paragraphs. Very occasionally, official reports were

published in full, as well as proposed municipal bylaws or similar information. Special editions of the Daily Telegraph were also particularly useful, and those relevant are listed in the bibliography. At the time of analysis, more information was searched as necessary or appropriate, either from official records such as reports and meeting minutes, or from other newspapers, including whichever of the Herald and Daily Telegraph had not been already been consulted for the date or dates concerned.

Some writers of local history have used the newspaper approach. Jim McAloon, an academic who has written a scholarly regional history of Nelson, acknowledges his reliance on local newspapers as the principal source for information, this statement being made at the commencement of an extensive bibliography that included a wide range of primary and secondary sources.3 David Johnson and H.K. Stevenson, in their histories of Wellington and Napier harbours, also highlight the usefulness of newspapers. Johnson, in a note at the start of his bibliography, comments that newspapers were the best source of information for meeting reports before 1950. This was because reporters recorded matters almost word for word, whereas official minutes usually reported decisions only. His footnotes, therefore, referred to newspaper reports rather than minutes, although minutes were searched for major events.4 Stevenson used newspaper reports extensively, and commented that he sometimes tested one newspaper against another for authenticity.5 This approach was also used in this study for some important relevant events where multiple reports were available.

The use of local newspapers as a principal source of information had a number of important advantages. First, newspapers provided a rich variety of information, including not just news and meeting reports, but also editorial comment and correspondence from readers. They also included, especially in earlier years, extensive coverage of reports considered by public authorities such as the Hawke's Bay Provincial Council, Napier Municipal Council and Napier Harbour Board. The leading issues of the day were reported in a manner and depth far greater than would be expected today. For example, the harbour debate and reclamation featured regularly in newspaper reports of the 1920s, as did news about the earthquake and reconstruction in the 1930s.

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Second, meeting records or minutes were not always legible in several senses. Early minutes were handwritten and sometimes difficult to decipher. Council minutes usually referred to reports (by committees or officers) that were simply adopted or amended, and separate records would then need to be consulted to verify exactly what had been decided. Further, unlike early newspaper reports, full discussion points raised in council or board debate were not included in official minutes. Sometimes, newspaper reports were so detailed that speeches made were cited verbatim. Much useful information was derived from meetings reported in this manner.

Third, newspapers portrayed a unique perspective of the time and, in a sense, functioned as community advocates and leaders. National and international developments in urban issues and in planning were reported on from time to time and became the subject of editorial comment. When the Hawke's Bay Herald was founded, its stated intention was to promote the establishment of a separate Hawke's Bay province. After the earthquake, the

Daily Telegraph remained intensely positive in its comment about reconstruction matters.

Fourth, newspapers were readily available for reading and copying, either at Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington or the Public Library at Napier. Microfilm images could be quickly and effectively printed for relevant items, and, for a time at Wellington, printed copies could be obtained for useful items identified in original newspapers but not available on microfilm. Later, this printing service was discontinued, and notes were made by hand by the candidate.

Newspapers, nonetheless, have their limitations as a source of information. Information reported in newspapers, in common with other written sources, is selective and stories or news items that are more mundane or have less interest to readers are less likely to be reported. In hindsight, items not reported at the time may have become important in the future. There is also the risk that, in searching thorough a large number of papers on microfilm, a relevant item could easily be missed, often because of the small size of the item on the page, or use of an unhelpful headline. This applies especially to newspapers published before 1900, when headings were used sparingly and sometimes not at all, in which case a column of unrelated stories followed on from each other with no separation other than a paragraph break. On the other hand, reports of municipal meetings were

reasonably comprehensive until about the outbreak of the First World War, but after that become much briefer and less informative.

Shortly after the Napier newspapers were researched as described, newspapers published up to 1901 became searchable electronically and online under the Papers Past project initiated by the Alexander Turnbull Library.6 Had these been available earlier, this mode of searching for information, based on key words, would have been used much more extensively for the first 50 years covered by this thesis, and possibly as a substitute for perusing individual newspapers. This search mode, however, was used to check and supplement some earlier manual searches.

Archives

Official records held by Archives New Zealand in Wellington and the Napier City Council were consulted with respect to specific aspects of this thesis. Much valuable information was discovered at these locations. Suitable files were identified from indexes provided by the two organisations. The records studied included a mixture of minutes of meetings, reports, plans, correspondence, memoranda, telegrams, newspaper cuttings and file notes, and provided a valuable supplement to earlier research from newspapers and other publications. Note taking was permitted and a photocopying service was available for items other than those that were too difficult or too fragile to copy, such as the minute books at Napier City Council that were stored and individually packaged in archival paper.

While the archives in Wellington and Napier provided a rich source of information, archival research has some limitations. First, the indexes might be incomplete or, more likely, may not have been adequately searched by the researcher. Second, files may be incomplete because not all documents created at the time have been retained. Third, files often will not document any oral debate or discussions that might have taken place at the time. As Keith Jacobs comments, files of public authorities are sanitised “and much of what is written in clearly intended to construct an impression of the policy process as linear, systematic and rational.”7

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