of a report that a reporter had sent by telegraph on a speech by William Stafford in April 1870 and allowing it to be used for political purposes. Barton argued that the telegram was effectively the private property of ODT, but his claim was rejected by the court. Following the conclusion of the case in 1871 Barton resigned and was succeeded as editor by William Murison. About two years previously J. G. Fraser had been appointed to the position of manager of the company. Murison held the editorship until 1877 when he was succeeded by George M Reed who only in turn held the position until 1878. Increasing competition George Bell, the owner of the afternoon Evening Star made a direct foray into directly completing with the ODT by launching the Morning Star in December 1872, but while the combined circulation of the two newspapers was over 4,000 this was still less than that of the ODT. In 1873 what eventually was to be called the Guardian Printing and Publishing Company was formed to purchase the Morning Star which they intended to rename the Daily News, but by the time it appeared on 23 July 1873 it was called the Otago Guardian a new daily morning rival. It was edited by Robert Creighton, who had formerly been editor of the Auckland's Southern Cross. Evening newspapers always had an advantage over the morning ODT as they had access to the latest news that had come in over the telegraph during the day. The telegraph office closed at midnight, which with the exception of local news, meant that the morning newspaper could only print the previous days national and international news. In January 1874 the Guardian Printing and Publishing Company began publishing the weekly Southern Mercury which was edited by Vincent Pyke. By the mid-1870s the Otago Guardian was struggling against the ODT. Following the resignation of its manager Captain Baldwin in 1875 George Fenwick took up the position. Soon recognizing after several months in the position that it was impossible to make headway against the ODT and thus stem the losses that the business was incurring Fenwick recommended to the directors of the company that they sell both the Otago Guardian and the Southern Mercury if possible, and, if not, to cease the publication. Taking his advice, a new owner was found in April 1876 the form of George McCullagh Reed