A long-forgotten strip of land owned by a Dunedin merchant in the 1870s is proving a loose end for the New Zealand Transport Agency, as it ties up legal requirements for the Caversham highway.
The piece of motorway, measuring .6m wide by about 50m long, was part of Percy St and still under title to the late Joseph Sykes Webb, who died in 1896.
It had disappeared from land records but was recently discovered during a survey, then brought to the attention of the transport agency which contracted The Property Group to legally acquire it.
Senior property consultant Ashley Macfarlane said Mr Webb bought land in Kensington about 1876, subdivided it and sold the individual residential sections.
He retained a narrow 50m strip along the side of the road, as was common practice at the time to control access, Mr Macfarlane said.
But after Mr Webb's death the strip was forgotten.
As part of the southern motorway development, it had to be legally acquired by the NZTA under the Public Works Act.
Mr Macfarlane said the land was not worth anything, was not rateable and could not be developed.
"It's such a small, insignificant piece, but it's the only outstanding bit. It's just a technical thing that has to be tidied up on paper," he said.
A public notice seeking information about Mr Webb's will or legal successors was recently published in the Otago Daily Times and generated interest among his descendants.
Mr Macfarlane said most were great-grandchildren and were more interested in the family history than legally claiming the land.
"If it was worth a few million dollars it would be worth their while, given the legal costs of trying to establish a claim," he said.
If no-one wanted to pursue ownership, the NZTA would publicly advertise its intention to take the land and formally declare it as motorway.
The process was expected to take a few months, Mr Macfarlane said.
Mr Webb was born in England in 1832, moved to Australia and arrived in New Zealand at Dunedin in 1859 with his first wife, with whom he had five children.
He worked as a general merchant and became involved in early newspapers.
After a stint in Hawaii he returned to Otago, where he married again, had another seven children, and eventually died.
