NZ Herald
The paper says workers ran for their lives, and a city motorway was closed during rush hour as fire gutted the Onehunga Mitre 10 shop on Monday evening. The blaze left the shop a heap of timber and ash and forced the evacuation of neighbouring factories. The Herald reports buskers who repeat their songs too often on Auckland City streets can be muzzled under a new council policy.
Dominion Post
In the Dominion Post, the State Services Commission is facing legal action from a former finance manager who says the agency repeatedly refused to investigate allegations he was seriously assaulted at work. The manager's head was allegedly pushed into a glass wall by a senior official at the commission, triggering a pre-existing medical condition. A man escaped injury when slug gun pellets were fired into his truck on State Highway 2 just north of Wellington on Monday.
The Press
The paper has the lone Japanese survivor of the six-day ordeal on Aoraki-Mt Cook telling his story, including how he discovered that his friend had died only hours before a rescue. Two male teenagers have been charged with the murder of taxi driver Abdulrahman Ikhtiari. And the Press reports police saying an alleged multimillion-dollar cannabis-growing ring has been left in tatters after a series of raids on the West Coast.
Otago Daily Times
The Otago Daily Times details a warning letter sent to the then Healthcare Otago by two Dunedin accountants 10 years ago. It says the letter raised material questions about the employment of Michael Swann who was last week found guilty of defrauding the institution. A copy of the letter is among more than 60 pages of documents provided to the paper.
