Auckland Libraries and the National Library in Wellington have both microfilm and hard copies of the 'North Shore Times', from the first issue published 30 March 1949 to the present. However, Devonport Museum also has a partial collection of that title, from 27 April 1949 to 15 December 1954.

Edited by Stanley Point resident Robert Alexander Ryan (1911-1980), the early issues were printed at the Times Printing Works in Newton. Initial copies were complimentary, but normally two pence each and from at least October 1949, three pence each. The daily 'New Zealand Herald' and 'Auckland Star' at that time were also two pence each. Local residents could take out a 12 month subscription for the 'North Shore Times' to be delivered across the North Shore.
The full title was 'North Shore Times; an independent non-party weekly', with an initial circulation of 7500 copies. This was soon extended to "circulating in Devonport, Takapuna, Milford, the East Coast Bays, Northcote, Birkenhead and Albany". The number of pages in each issue started at four and by the end of 1954 had reached twelve. Contributions of articles from local groups were welcomed, but soon the newspaper employed a "roving reporter". There were very few photographs at this time.
For 1949 there are 34 issues, but Devonport Museum has only six. Nevertheless, there are some interesting snippets.

• In 1949, the North Shore Transport Company ran a fleet of between 55 and 60 buses. In an application to raise the fares the company claimed a loss on the Browns Bay route, due to buses at peak times coming back to the depot near empty having either delivered commuters to or from the ferries at Devonport and Bayswater. The Auckland harbour bridge was of course ten years away. During the rush hour the company needed around 56 buses on the roads to carry their passengers. In December 1949, the Licensing Authority declined an application by 68 petitioners for a bus service through Rothesay Bay. North Shore Transport claimed the roads weren't robust enough.
• At the 1949 General Election there were three electorates covering the North Shore. Beach Haven, Birkdale and Birkenhead were part of the Ponsonby electorate, while Glenfield, Albany, East Coast Bays and Milford (including most of Hurstmere Road) were in the Rodney electorate. In 1949, Dean Eyre (1914-2007) for National defeated Labour's Martyn Finlay (1912-1999) by 1344 votes in the North Shore electorate and the 'North Shore Times' reported results from polling booths in Devonport, Bayswater, Belmont, Takapuna and Northcote. Devonport Borough residents cast just over 50% of the total votes in the North Shore electorate at that time.
• Many will recall Fun Ho's sandcast or later diecast aluminium cap guns, with their rolls of caps sold in packets. For Christmas 1949, and just four years after the dropping of atomic bombs on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a Takapuna shop advertised the 'Atomic Cap Bomb'. Manufactured on the North Shore, the small 'bomb' was dropped on its nose on a surface and set off an explosive cap.
• Originally 23 acres in size, the potential number of residential homes in Belmont's private Shale Estate subdivision was cut back by the Education Department, which took two acres for the expanding Takapuna Grammar School. Land in the Shale Estate subdivision was also to be taken for Belmont Primary School. However, due to a local protest, land instead came from the Council.
• In late 1949, Takapuna Borough Council was negotiating the purchase of the half acre 'Pirate Shippe' site in Milford for 2000 pounds, while the local Waitemata County Riding member, Captain Harold Rushworth (1880-1950), suggested at a public meeting in the Bays that subdividers pay for the maintenance of newly formed roads for the first 12 months.

Note: Thanks to a reader who suggested the 1923 photo in my March 2024 column was likely of the North Shore Albions rugby league team. More to come.

david.verran@xtra.co.nz