Wellington - The New Zealand government will apologise and pay compensation of $107 million in a landmark settlement for taking Maori land last century.
The 1,800-page Deed of Settlement, which took six years of intense negotiations, was initialled yesterday by Treaty Negotiations Minister Doug Graham and Ngai Tahu chief negotiator Sir Tipene O'Regan in parliament.
They hailed the payment and the apology as a chance for the British Crown and the tribe to renew the relationship originally intended under the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
The accord will now be put to the tribe's 12,000 voting members for approval. It covers large tracts of South Island, including New Zealand's tallest peak, Mount Cook.