Greymouth War memorial home at last 

The treasured war memorial gates which were uprooted in Greymouth have been given back.

It is what the people of Greymouth have been waiting all week for.

"It feels fantastic mate. Great, a small step to make a huge wrong right," says local Runanga deputy chairman Rick Barber.

Grey Main School Reunion committee spokesman Roger Devlin met with Mawhera Incorporation chairman Maika Mason on Thursday morning.

Devlin says he wanted to put an end to the outcry from the community after four memorial pillars were taken off land owned by the Mawhera Incorporation which plans to develop a shopping centre on the site.

Under the deal, Mawhera Incorporation will gift the gate, pillars and fence to the reunion committee which will restore and relocate them.

Earlier, West Coast Labour MP Damien O'Connor joined the outcry, saying he was disgusted with the actions of the Mawhera Incorporation, which was accused of removing the memorial.

O'Connor offered to meet Mason to try to settle the dispute. O'Connor said the incorporation had shown a complete lack of respect to the families of the soldiers who the memorial was dedicated to.

The war memorial was built to commemorate those who died in World War I and has been a focal point for Greymouth Anzac Day parades since the 1920s.

Many Maori were also angered that an organisation representing them showed such disrespect.

Mason did not want to talk to One News but explained he did not want the gates on Mawhera Incorporation land and there had been a mix-up over who he needed to talk to.

For now, the war memorial gates are back in Greymouth Park.