KEY POINTS:
People from all over the country are ready to do battle over the stealthy snatch of four war memorial pillars from Greymouth, mayor Tony Kokshoorn says.
The Grey District mayor told NZPA he was being flooded with calls from people incensed by the removal of the pillars that
were erected in memory of people who died in World War 1.
And he is promising to track down the company head who orchestrated the removal and take the pillars back if he did not return them willingly.
The pillars were stealthily shifted in the early hours of Sunday morning and turned up in a paddock at Arahura, 32km south of Greymouth.
One of the 86-year-old pillars split in two.
The pillars, which had been in front of the original Grey Main School, were ripped out from a site now owned by Mawhera Incorporation that has been earmarked for redevelopment as a shopping centre.
Mr Kokshoorn said the pillars' removal had been an "act of defiance" by Mawhera Incorporation chairman Maika Mason who knew about well advanced plans to find an alternative site for the historic pillars.
He said Mr Mason, who was served by a shop owner in the Greymouth area yesterday, had gone to ground.
Mr Mason knew full well about the controversy but was giving a "one-fingered salute" to the council and community.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen today urged Mr Mason to get in touch with Mr Kokshoorn to "identify a way through the problem".
The Government was willing to assist in any sensible solution that saw these historic pillars protected for the benefit of the Greymouth community, Dr Cullen said.
Mr Kokshoorn said the next step had to be for Mr Mason to contact him and talk it out. But, if he refused, the council would go and get the pillars back.
"If he refuses to come and talk to me, we're going and getting him. We're going to take them back. They belong to the Grey district and we're saying loud and clear, they must stay here."
While no laws might have been broken with the pillars' removal, Mr Mason had a moral obligation to see them returned as they belonged to the community.
Mr Kokshoorn has been overwhelmed by the many emails and calls he has received from individuals - including from people calling him on their cellphones from Queen St in Auckland - and organisations like RSAs wanting to help fund a legal battle.
"They're saying `we don't care what it costs, we'll start fundraising right now for a legal challenge'.
"They've all got some ancestor who fought in the war ... and the passion is incredible. It's just a raw nerve that's been touched and people are saying `no way'," he said.
"People are horrified that this could actually happen to a war memorial."
Mr Kokshoorn visited today the site where the pillars had been taken from and said there were placards painted with "Lest We Forget" laying there along with flowers and messages.
"It's like old Princess Di dying."
- NZPA