Thanks for getting Brightwater’s bronze boy back on his pedestal

The Tasman District Council will send a letter of thanks to a police constable for his quick work retrieving a stolen statue of world-famous scientist Ernest Rutherford.

The bronze statue of Lord Rutherford as a child was removed from its plinth in his birthplace of Brightwater overnight last Friday, leaving part of the legs. The brazen act was caught on CCTV.

By Monday afternoon, the statue was returned by Wakefield’s Constable Jamie White to its rightful place at the Rutherford Memorial, and a 35-year-old man had been charged with its theft, after White chased him into a river.

On Tuesday, Matthew James Anderson, via video link in the Nelson District Court, pleaded guilty to wilful damage and theft.

Councillor Anne Turley, who represents the Moutere-Waimea ward, which includes Brightwater, asked at a full council meeting on Thursday if a thank-you letter could be sent to White ‘‘for his work in getting the statue back quickly for the Brightwater community’’.

Tasman mayor Tim King said he would be more than happy to do this.

Councillor Kit Maling, a former police officer, said the incident highlighted the value of CCTV cameras ‘‘helping us to protect our district’’.

‘‘People don’t like the intrusion but if you behave yourself, you don’t have a problem,’’ Maling said.

King said the council made a contribution to some of those CCTV systems but a ‘‘huge amount’’ was due to community groups and associations organising their installation, with funding from individuals and businesses within those communities.

Since those communities had taken on that responsibility, ‘‘we now have a network of cameras that police can use in situations like this, or we have access to in terms of the vandalism of council property and reserves etc, which unfortunately is a significant issue for us’’, King said.

Those systems would need maintenance and upgrading, for which support from the council was something it ‘‘would probably have to keep considering’’.