---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
  - Organization
  - Newspaper
  - NewZealand
  - Christchurch
  - RCHorsch
aliases:
  - The Press (Christchurch)
  - Christchurch Press
summary: "Christchurch daily newspaper published by the Christchurch Press Company from Cathedral Square, whose 1981 to 1986 reporting is the principal record of the Stokowski affair."
location: "Christchurch, New Zealand"
relations:
  - type: owned
    with: "[[Christchurch Press Company]]"
    reverse: true
    fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---

*The Press* is a daily newspaper published in [[Christchurch]], [[New Zealand]]. In the 1970s and 1980s it was published by the Christchurch Press Company Ltd, whose registered office was "The Christchurch Press Company's building in Cathedral Square"; in December 1984 the Commerce Commission cleared the company to acquire shares in another business.[^1]

### The Stokowski Affair

Between 1981 and 1986 the paper reported the progress and collapse of [[Chemical Technology Limited]], the whey-to-ethanol company at Clandeboye near [[Temuka]] whose American director, Dr Stanley Stokowski, was the fugitive [[R.C. Horsch]]. Its reports included the 1981 licensing of the distillery, the opening of the plant by [[Ian Shearer]] in 1982, the police search after Stokowski fled in March 1984, and the feature "Where has 'Dr Stokowski' gone?" of June 9, 1984, for which its [[San Francisco]] correspondent, John Hutchison, reached the real Dr Stanley Edward Stokowski, then working at the [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]].[^2][^3][^4][^5] In October 1984 it reported the statement of the Minister of Immigration, [[Kerry Burke]], identifying the impostor as Raymond Charles Hoersch.[^6]

The paper was also the first to report, on December 10, 1981, the contents of a briefcase mislaid by an officer of the [[New Zealand Security Intelligence Service]].[^7]

### Footnotes

[^1]: NZ Gazette full-text index, "Christchurch Press Company," 1880-2017 (winding-up notices of 1978 and 1980 giving service at "its registered office at The Christchurch Press Company's building in Cathedral Square"; Commerce Commission notice of January 17, 1985), accessed September 23, 2026. https://gazette.howison.co.nz/search-full-text?query=%22Christchurch+Press+Company%22&start_year=1880&end_year=2017
[^2]: "Ethanol plant at Temuka," *The Press* (Christchurch), July 15, 1981. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19810715.2.31
[^3]: "Dr Shearer wants extra effort in biotechnology," *The Press* (Christchurch), April 23, 1982. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820423.2.96.9
[^4]: "Police look for U.S. chemist," *The Press* (Christchurch), June 6, 1984 (Press Association, Timaru). https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19840606.2.48
[^5]: "Where has 'Dr Stokowski' gone?," *The Press* (Christchurch), June 9, 1984. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19840609.2.9
[^6]: "Impostor: immigration cleared of blame," *The Press* (Christchurch), October 3, 1984. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19841003.2.23
[^7]: Clayworth, Peter. "Intelligence services: The Cold War, 1945 to 1984," *Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand,* May 29, 2012. http://web.archive.org/web/20250919013618/https://teara.govt.nz/en/intelligence-services/page-2