Story: Ngā whakataunga tiriti – Treaty of Waitangi settlement process

The shaky signature of Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson appears on this copy of the Treaty of Waitangi, along with the names and identifying marks of a number of northern chiefs. This English-language version of the treaty guarantees the chiefs and their people 'full, exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates, Forests, Fisheries, and other properties ... so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession.' The treaty settlement process of recent decades has been an attempt to compensate Māori for subsequent breaches of that guarantee.