Will the real Roddy stand up?

Press, 8 May 1980, Page 1

Will the real Roddy stand up?

PA ’ ' ’ Dunedin Somebody wants to give Roderick Mackenzie $lBO,OOO, perhaps a little more. But Roderick Mackenzie, formerly of Dunedin, eludes their best efforts to do so. The “somebody” is the City Council of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada. It has tried to trace Roderick Mackenzie, with the help of a New Zealand law firm, for several months. Mr Mackenzie owns eight hectares of prime land that stands in the path of Calgary’s proposed expressway. The land is worth more than $20,000 a hectare, according to Mr W. Chilton, the Calgary council’s chief land officer. “The city can always expropriate land for municipal purposes, but first you have to show that you negotiated with the owner or the beneficiaries,” Mr Chilton said in a report sent to the “Otago Daily Times.” ■ ’ Mr Mackenzie gave his last address- on the land title document, dated 1960, as Dunedin. New Zealand. Officials believe that Mr Mackenzie left Canada many years ago and think he is still in New Zealand. Somebody has continued to pay taxes on the land in Calgary, but even that person remains a mystery to the city officials. So the Calgary City Council would like to hear from the real Roderick Mackenzie.