125 years to wind up estate

A court has been asked to tie up the loose ends of the estate of a man who died 125 years ago.

James Francis Mandeno was an Anglican minister who arrived in New Zealand from England with his wife and seven children in 1855.

He died in 1886 but his estate was never fully wound up and the title of a 3600sq m block of land he bought in Cameron Town Rd, Pukekohe, never got past the three executors of his estate. All are long dead.

The title was registered in the names of James Lloyd Mandeno, John Howe Mandeno and William H. Mandeno, but when they died, nothing was done to transfer the title.

A farmer who owned land next door paid the rates and used the land for grazing. When he sold his land in about 2005, the payment stopped.

The Waikato District Council obtained a court order declaring the land abandoned and it was put up for sale by tender.

That was when the family stepped in. Ashley Glenn, a grandson of the Rev Mandeno, sought an order in the High Court at Auckland this week to transfer the title to him so he could put up a plaque commemorating the man and his work.

He said the land would be held in trust and the several thousand dollars in unpaid rates paid.

- NZPA