KEY POINTS:
Maika Mason and grandsons Ben and Taylor Mason have come in from the Arahura River with a glistening catch of fish. Mason, 71, mostly lives in Christchurch with wife Ngaire, but he's holidaying in his "bachelor's retreat", a comfortably shabby weatherboard house in the cattle-grazed, bush-darkened Arahura valley, 40km south of Greymouth.
When the phone rings, he gets Taylor to answer. "If it's not someone we know, I'm out fishing."
The phone's been ringing a lot since word got out that he, as chairman of Greymouth's biggest landowner, Mawhera Incorporation, had overseen the removal early last Sunday morning of four war memorial gate pillars from the school site where they'd stood for 85 years.
The act was denounced as a desecration. The pillars, one broken, lay in one of Mason's paddocks in the valley until Thursday morning, when auto-electrician Roger Devlin called by for a cuppa and persuaded Mason to give them to the Grey Main School Reunion Committee.
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn showed up minutes later with a truck and crane. Done deal.
Still the phone rings - media, abusive strangers, even Tame Iti, Mason says. He wasn't interested in talking. But now, while his mokopuna watch the Disney channel, their koro is ready to give his account of why Mawhera Incorporation felt compelled to act.
"I DON'T TEND to apologise to anyone," Mason says. "I'm not going to apologise to anyone for exercising my rights. Those pillars belonged to us and we were acting within our legal rights to remove them."
For more than a year, Mawhera made no secret the gates - on its land - were in the way of a planned shopping development. There were talks among interested parties, including the RSA, about shifting them. But nothing was done.
Then, early last month, Mawhera received notice from the Historic Places Trust that the gates were being considered for registration as historic. Mason says this forced Mawhera's hand. He frames it as another potential impediment to the corporation doing what it wanted with its own land.
Mawhera's land derives from pockets reserved by West Coast Maori in Ngai Tahu's 1860 land sales. It was managed by a public trustee until West Coast Maori wrested back control in the early 70s and established Mawhera Incorporation.
By then, it had been reduced from 200ha to 140ha through land sales, and the lost economic opportunities had taken a social and cultural toll. "The deprivation we suffered is the basis of our attitude today," says Mason.
Mason succeeded Sir Tipene O'Regan as chairman 19 years ago, after a career that spanned the forest service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Department of Conservation.
Many incorporation members sold their shares to other shareholders in the early years when they had little value. Mason is one of a small number of shareholders who today effectively control the incorporation, which, with around 1400 shareholders in total, is generally seen as one of the country's most successful Maori businesses.
As the visible face of the Mawhera, he is like the "King of Greymouth", whose CBD is on Mawhera land.
Mawhera was also given first dibs at buying the improvements on its land when they came up for sale. On another of its properties it has developed a Greymouth supermarket.
"Here we are after 140 years with the right to develop our own land," says Mason, "only to be inhibited by someone else's war memorial."
He calls the move for historic places registration "vindictive and provocative" and sees Mawhera's response a last resort (it took legal advice).
Shifting the pillars to his paddock without warning was a tactical move, he says. "If they're on your property they have to talk to you, then we can decide who best to negotiate with."
Yes, he expected the reaction. But not for it "to be ratcheted up by the mayor". (Kokshoorn tried to lay a theft complaint and was prepared to lead vigilante retrieval.)
"We thought the responsible element in the city would approach us and talk to us but they didn't. So whether our act was too provocative or not, I don't know. But we flagged our intentions for 18 months."THIS GOES far beyond gate pillars, says Mason. As Mawhera tenants, successive Greymouth councils have been frustrated by lease conditions. Relations between the two bodies have often been dicey.
"We don't operate in the sort of climate that's conducive to achieving the best interests of the town," says Mason. "It's always something subversive."
A major bone of contention is pressure from the council for Mawhera to freehold its Greymouth residential sections, which are mostly occupied by low-income people who have been struggling with lease increases of up to 300 per cent since a law change allowed Mawhera to phase in market rates.
But, asks Mason, why should Mawhera sell the sections just when they start generating decent revenue?
There's a deep-seated resentment at play, he claims. "Historically, the citizens of Greymouth hated the idea that it was all Maori land and have done everything in their power over the past 140 years to take over the land. Deep down, I suppose, it's inherent in the culture, that Maori are inferior - why should they own this land?
"We've never required the council or the town to respect our culture. We are not the tribe; we are a group of private land-owning individuals.
"You might think my reaction is a racist reaction, but it's a response to a negative reaction from the other side."
Only Mawhera's management committee was privy to the plan to remove the pillars and many shareholders were as shocked as the rest of the country. In a letter to the Greymouth Star, Ngati Waewae elder and Mawhera shareholder Ursula Tainui said she was disgusted by the act. "I do not agree with all that the 'Top Dogs' of that incorporation do. It sickens me to think my few shares contributed to your pain. Let's hope the chairman puts things right that should not have happened in the first place. What happened to korero, Mr Chairman?"
Rick Barber is a minor shareholder, Historic Places Trust volunteer and engineering consultant. He told the Herald on Sunday he and his whanau "are aghast at the wrong that was done". It showed arrogance, and lack of corporate citizenship, he says. Why couldn't a developer have incorporated the gates into the shopping centre's design?
The council and Crown were also at fault, Barber charges, by not protecting the gates. But he slams Mason's interpretation of the incident. "It's not Maori versus Pakeha; it's the corruption of corporate power. This is a story about corporate power taking away community rights."
For now, the pillars are lying in Dixon Park, while the community decides where to put them.
Kokshoorn is demanding Mawhera helps pay for their re-erection and restoration. Barber's not holding his breath.
