Neil Cooper, property officer for Stratford District Council, says the township of Midhirst owes its existence to the foresight of an early settler, Albert Cracroft Fookes.
Neil says Fookes' input was so great that "one wonders why he didn't call it Fookesville or Fookeston as a more pretentious settler might have".
Neil says Stratford District Council is keen to hear from any relatives or descendants of Albert Fookes and hopes that this brief history of the man who became the second mayor of New Plymouth might jog some memories.
Born in 1839 in Kent, England, Fookes emigrated to New Zealand in 1861, enlisting in the militia shortly after the Taranaki Land Wars broke out.
He served throughout the two campaigns that occupied most of the 1860s.
At the conclusion of the wars Fookes became a storekeeper at Waverley, before moving to New Plymouth in 1876 where he became a land broker and served as the town's second mayor.
In 1878 Fookes entered into an agreement with the Government to purchase 5000 acres of land between the Manganui River and the Piakau Stream on the condition that he subdivide the land into 100-acre blocks for on-sale, construct roads throughout to service the blocks and, within 12 months, settle one settler on the land for every 200 acres.
This was for the purpose of the "Formation and Encouragement of a Special Settlement" under the provisions of The Taranaki Waste Lands Act of 1874.
As part of the agreement he was entitled to retain 400 acres for himself. This he did and then set about further subdividing his retained block into residential lots to form the township of Midhirst, presumably to realise some reasonable profit for himself out of the transaction.
The township was laid out as a square, straddling the main road south and with a street network radiating out from the centre.
At the time, however, there was little by way of legislation to enable the legalisation of roads and streets in private subdivisions of this nature, with the result that no attempt was made to formally dedicate the streets in any public body. Accordingly, while the streets were surveyed as such, legally they remained in the original title to the land granted to Fookes.
Over the years, some of them have been legalised as they were formed and maintained by subsequent local authorities (the latest only last year) but today there still remain a number of these surveyed "streets" in Albert Fookes' name and title, although they are occupied by various adjoining land owners.
Two portions of these "streets" are incorporated within the Midhirst Domain and Stratford District Council is keen to formalise this public use by legally acquiring the land.
Albert Fookes died in 1916; all of his 12 children listed as beneficiaries in his will have also died.
As a result, the only practical way for the council to acquire the land is through the provisions of the Public Works Act 1981. To do so however, before utilising the compulsory acquisition provisions in the Act, the council must make a reasonable attempt to locate descendants or beneficiaries of Fookes who may wish to claim and prove title to his land.
Anyone aware of any living descendants of Albert Cracroft Fookes, some of whom are believed to be residing in Auckland and Hamilton, is urged to phone the council on 06 765 6099.