ARMY ASKED TO PAY

Southland Times, Issue 24547, 23 September 1941, Page 4

ARMY ASKED TO PAY

PROPERTY DAMAGED AT WANGANUI (Special) WANGANUI, September 22. Concerned at the amount of damage done to property at the Wanganui racecourse while the military authorities were in occupation, the secretary of the Wanganui Agricultural and Pastoral Association, Mr A. R. Donaldson, wrote to the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, requesting that the property be restored as far as possible. Replies were received from the Minister and Central Military District Headquarters regretting that the damage had been done and stating that the property would be restored after the racecourse was vacated by the Army. “I regret to advise you that a very considerable amount of damage has been caused, and it will be an expensive matter to put it back in its original state,” Mr Donaldson stated in his letter to the Minister. “Some of the damage is irreparable. Photographs which we valued as records of bygone shows have been smashed. A 20ft counter in the office has been entirely removed, and bayonet thrusts have severely damaged other furniture. The office is not recognizable, the furniture being very badly damaged. In the industries hall 150 ft of show shelves fitted with sliding doors have been dismantled, and the timber used for partitions. It was cut in such a a way that it cannot be used for its former purpose. Blocks used for the building of stands have been taken away and about 18 are left out of our stock of 50. Feed boxes have been smashed and hurdles and other stored fittings have been destroyed.”