Raiders spoil couple's return home

THEN THERE WAS ONE: Featherston couple Marion and David Pawson with the remaining ponga at their Bucks Rd property.

A couple resettling in Wairarapa has received a less-than-pleasant welcome to Featherston - a theft from the front garden.

Marion and David Pawson are dividing their time between Wellington and their recently purchased property in Bucks Rd, next to Tararua Forest Park.

On Father's Day they arrived in Featherston to discover one of three mature ponga (silver fern trees) they had planted beside the gateway to the property was missing. Several days later, a second ponga had disappeared.

Mrs Pawson said she and her husband, who have lived in Wairarapa previously, wished to settle permanently in Featherston - but the theft of their plants had left them rattled.

"It's been very discouraging," said Mrs Pawson, who works in Wellington as a learning and behavioural coach.

"David and I have a really strong connection to Wairarapa, and we want to make a contribution to the community. But if we're having to put all this effort into protecting our things so it doesn't get swiped, we're not going to be able to do that.

"It's disappointing."

The Pawsons spent their childhoods in the district - he in Masterton, she in Martinborough - and met while attending Kuranui College.

Mrs Pawson's father, Ian Hewson, was minister at First Church, Martinborough, and Mr Pawson has worked with Scouting and Search and Rescue in Wairarapa.

"We've always brought our children back here for holidays, and gone camping right next door in the forest park," said Mrs Pawson. "We want to make this our home - but we'd like people to stop nicking our stuff."

The ponga were planted alongside the roadway the couple built to lead to the property through bush, and to "soften" the lines of a fence erected around the roadway.

"We planted them to beautify the road - which is essentially a scar on the landscape," said Ms Pawson, who gave her husband the ponga for his birthday.

"They didn't cost a great deal, but we liked having them there."

She had no idea why someone would remove the plants, and suspected they may have been taken by gardening enthusiasts thinking the ponga were "just part of the forest park".

It is not the first time the Pawsons' property has been targeted - tools have also been taken, and a nearby area was cleared to make way for a suspected "dope garden".

"The police do keep an eye on that area," said Mrs Pawson. "We were told there were people nearby, living out of their cars - and they've since moved on, apparently."

She said the nursery where she bought the ponga had offered to replace them.

The Pawsons were still "delighted" with their new home and looked forward to getting to know the Featherston community.