the only one course open to the company to gain circulation and stop the progress of their rival was to reduce the price of the ODT to match that of the Morning Herald; but it took several years before his more conservative colleagues on the board would agree to this, the ODT reducing its price to one penny on 1 February 1881. The result completely justified as the reduction as the circulation of the ODT rapidly increased initially to 4,100 and then to 4,000 to 6,000 in 1882 at the expense of its rival which steadily declined until after a hopeless struggle it became an evening paper in May 1884 and changing its name to the Evening Herald’ Despite this and a change of ownership it ceased publication in August 1890 when it merged with the Globe a liberal publication that had been launched in response to a maritime shrike. The Globe creased publication in 1893. The ODT was still however less popular than that of the Evening Star which had a circulation of 5,300 a day in 1876 and over 7,500 in 1881. The newspapers opposition to the policies of both Vogel and Sir George Grey changed when it became a public company under the chairmanship of W. H. Reynolds as he was an ally of both Vogel and Grey. The business added a lithographic department in 1879. When Richard Twopeny resigned from the editorship of the Otago Daily Times in 1890 after a disagreement with the directors, Fenwick also took on the editorship duties,. The introduction of linotype machines in 1898 lead to the redundancy of 30 compositors. In 1909 Fenwick handed the editorship of the newspaper to James Hutchison. While William Easton succeeded him as manager in 1919, Fenwick remained managing director of the Otago Daily Times until his death. By the first decade of the twentieth century weekday issues of the ODT had eight pages, which occasionally doubled on Saturdays. By late 1910 the weekday issues had increased to 10 to 12 pages. Impact of World War I Prior to the commencement of the First World War the cost of imported newsprint, was £12 a ton (landed). As the war progressed freight cost began to increase and contracts became more onerous which forced the ODT to increase its price to 1½d, the first price increase since 1881. Even after the end of the war the landed