SHOWGROUNDS FIRE
ARMY'S LOSS £225,700
EVIDENCE AT P.N. INQUIRY P.A. PALMERSTON N., this day. At the coroners' inquiry into the fire at the Manawatu A. and P. Association's showgrounds on December 31 last, the officer commanding the ordnance depot, Capt. W. S. Keegan, giving evidence as to the damage, set the loss to the Army Department at £225,700. The total value of all stock at the depot at the end of December, 1944, was £1,100,000. Captain Keegan said that thefts up to the time of the fire were very small from the ordnance depot, and the greater part of the overall deficiencies were the result of miscounting. In two years nine months the losses from all sources amounted to £627. For the same period there were brought on charge surpluses to the value of £1600. Thus the surpluses outweighed the shortages by about £1000. Witness detailed the accounting system of charging for goods. From his knowledge of the store, there could be definitely no suggestion that the fire was started to conceal shortages.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19450323.2.108
Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1945, Page 7
Word Count
173SHOWGROUNDS FIRE Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1945, Page 7
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Auckland Star. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries.
Log in