An account of the historical background agreed between the Crown and Ngāti Apa is included in the Deed of Settlement, along with acknowledgments of Crown breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and a Crown Apology for those breaches.

The Crown recognised the mandate of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Apa (Te Rūnanga) to negotiate a settlement on behalf of Ngāti Apa to settle their historical Treaty claims on 16 November 2004. The Crown signed Terms of Negotiation with Te Rūnanga on 27 July 2005. On 12 July 2007 the Crown and Ngāti Apa signed an Agreement in Principle and a Deed of Settlement based on this agreement was initialled on 3 September 2008. The Deed was then ratified by members of Ngāti Apa and signed on 8 October 2008. The Deed of Settlement will be implemented following the passage of settlement legislation.

Te Rūnanga is led by Adrian Rurawhe (Chair). The Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Hon Dr Michael Cullen, represented the Crown in high-level negotiations with Ngāti Apa, as did his predecessor Hon Mark Burton.

At 1840, Ngāti Apa in the Rangitikei-Manawatu area had land interests stretching from Motukaraka south to Omarupapako and inland to the upper Rangitikei area. Three Ngāti Apa signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Tawhirihoe pa in May 1840.

In 1844 Commissioner William Spain investigated a claim by the New Zealand Company to have purchased a large area in the Whanganui region from Māori. Ngāti Apa had interests in this land but were not consulted on the claim nor were their interests recognised in Spain’s final report recommending that the Company be awarded 40,000 acres. In 1848 the Crown completed the Whanganui purchase but for a much larger area. Ngāti Apa were consulted on this transaction and received £100 of the purchase money and three reserves in return for their consent to the transaction.

In 1849 the Crown purchased the 260,000 acre Rangitikei-Turakina block from Ngāti Apa for £2,500. Through this transaction Ngāti Apa endeavoured to establish a relationship with the Crown, and wished to obtain various benefits from the establishment of a European settlement in their vicinity, including peace, protection and prosperity. The Crown aimed to open up the land for development and extend British influence among Māori. The 1849 sale deed created a large general reserve of 35,000 acres between the Whangaehu and Turakina Rivers for all of Ngāti Apa to collect and settle on.

Ngāti Apa were mostly supportive of the settler government during the 1860s when tension over Crown land purchasing was widespread among North Island Māori. Some Ngāti Apa fought alongside Crown forces in the New Zealand Wars in 1865.

In 1866 Ngāti Apa and other iwi sold a further 241,000 acres to the Crown for £25,000 in order to resolve disputes over leasing revenues and the nature of land interests. Ngāti Apa received £10,000 and had 4,000 acres set aside as a reserve for them. Once again, at the signing of the purchase deed, Ngāti Apa affirmed their desire for positive relationships with settlers and their loyalty to the Crown.

The Native Land Acts of 1862 and 1865 established the Native Land Court to determine the owners of Māori land and to convert customary title into title derived from the Crown. There was opposition within Ngāti Apa to the operation of the Native Land Court and the alienation of their lands. Some Ngāti Apa joined a repudiation movement and called for the abolition of the Court. Sometimes Ngāti Apa incurred considerable costs and hardship in attending Court hearings.

From 1867, members of Ngāti Apa who could demonstrate ancestral and customary interests in the area were awarded titles for their reserves from the Rangitikei–Turakina purchase from the Court. This was despite the arrangements in the 1849 deed creating the Whangaehu-Turakina reserve for all of Ngāti Apa. This meant those who did not have a customary interest in the land were excluded from ownership of the tribal reserve lands. Some of the reserve lands awarded to hapū and individuals by the Court were then sold.

Over the next two decades there was considerable tension within Ngāti Apa over the basis on which the Court was awarding title to the reserves. When the Supreme Court ruled in 1882 that blocks in the Whangaehu-Turakina Reserve were outside of the jurisdiction of the Native Land Court, Parliament passed legislation to place the Whangaehu-Turakina Reserve within the Native Land Court’s jurisdiction. Attempts by Ngāti Apa in the 1870s to protect their remaining reserve land against alienation were ineffectual.

In addition to sales of some Ngāti Apa reserves, almost 140,000 acres of Ngāti Apa lands were alienated to the Crown or settlers between 1867 and 1909. Crown purchases accounted for 73 percent of the land alienation in this period. The Government’s method of negotiating for land before 1879 frequently involved the payment of advances to Māori prior to determination of title. Ngāti Apa lands continued to be alienated in the twentieth century. In 1937, a Development Scheme was created for Ngāti Apa lands near the Whangaehu River, but the scheme was wound up in the early 1950s, encumbered with debt. After World War Two many Ngāti Apa moved away from their tribal lands to urban areas in the hope of better economic opportunities.

Today, Ngāti Apa own less than one percent of their traditional lands.

This redress provides for recognition of the traditional, historical, cultural and spiritual association of Ngäti Apa with places and sites owned by the Crown within their area of interest. This allows Ngäti Apa and the Crown to protect and enhance the conservation values associated with these sites, and includes:

Sites transferred in fee simple title to Ngāti Apa

The transfer of 12 sites of significance to Ngāti Apa totalling 214 hectares:

• Pukepuke Lagoon House Site (approx 0.27ha)
• Waimahora Stream Site (approx 19.44ha)
• Bed of Lake Koitiata (approx 41.46ha)
• Marton Golf Course (approx 50.82ha)
• Lake Hickson Site (approx 5.32ha)
• Lake William Site (approx 10.15ha)
• Motu Karaka Site (up to 28ha)
• Ruatangata Site (approx 9ha)
• Pakiki (approx 19.84ha)
• Lake Ngaruru Site (approx 1.21ha)
• Pakapakatea (approx 16.81ha)
• Waitapu (approx 10.80ha).

 Statutory Acknowledgements

Statutory Acknowledgements register the special association Ngāti Apa has with an area, and will be included in the settlement legislation. Statutory Acknowledgements are recognised under the Resource Management Act 1991 and the Historic Places Act 1993. The acknowledgements require that consent authorities provide Ngāti Apa with summaries of all resource consent applications that may affect the areas named in the acknowledgements.

There will be Statutory Acknowledgements over three sites, five waterways, and the coastal marine area within Ngāti Apa’s area of interest, including:

• Pukepuke Lagoon
• Omarupapako
• Ruakiwi
• the following waterways within the Ngäti Apa Area of Interest:
  • Rangitikei River
  • Turakina River
  • Whangaehu River
  • Mangawhero River; and
  • Oroua River
• Ngāti Apa Coastal Region (i.e. the coastal marine area within the Ngāti Apa Area of Interest).

 Deeds of Recognition

Deeds of Recognition oblige the Crown to consult with Ngäti Apa and have regard to their views regarding the special association Ngāti Apa have with a site. They also specify the nature of the input by Ngāti Apa into management of those areas by the Department of Conservation and/or the Commissioner of Crown Lands.

There will be five Deeds of Recognition covering:

• Pukepuke Lagoon
• Omarupapako
• Ruakiwi
• Whitiau Scientific Reserve; and
• Taukoro.

Place names

There will be one official place name assignment of Parae Karetu to the area known as Mount Curl; and one reserve name change for the Round Bush Scenic Reserve to Omarupapako/Round Bush Scenic Reserve.

Protocols

Protocols will be issued by the Ministers of Conservation, Arts, Culture and Heritage and Fisheries, and a relationship agreement reached with the Ministry for the Environment, to encourage good working relationships on matters of cultural importance to Ngāti Apa.

Ministerial letters will encourage regional and local authorities to enhance their relationship with Ngāti Apa, by, for example, entering into memoranda of understanding (or similar document) with Ngāti Apa. Ngäti Apa and Horizons Regional Council are currently working together to agree redress to recognise the cultural and historical significance of Scotts Ferry (Tawhirihoe) which is council owned and is of significance to Ngäti Apa. The Crown will facilitate meetings between Ngäti Apa and Horizons Regional Council, if necessary.

Cultural revitalisation

Redress, comprising:

• the gifting of five papakainga properties
• funding to assist in preparing and implementing a long term cultural redevelopment plan; and
• funding to assist in compiling a comprehensive historical record.

The Crown is to provide additional funding, outside of quantum, for the purpose of clearing two proposed papakainga sites currently located within licensed Crown forest land up to a limit of $250,000.

This redress recognises the economic loss suffered by Ngāti Apa arising from breaches by the Crown of its Treaty obligations. It will provide Ngāti Apa with resources to assist them to develop their economic and social well-being. It includes:

Financial redress

Ngāti Apa will receive financial redress comprising:

• a monetary (cash) payment of $16 million, commonly referred to as the Quantum
• payment of interest on the Quantum of approximately $2.8 million
• the ability to purchase licensed Crown forest land, through which Ngāti Apa will receive a further (approximately) $6 million in accumulated rentals currently held by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust (CFRT); and
• New Zealand Units will be allocated to Ngāti Apa for nil consideration. The licensed Crown forest lands have been valued on the basis that New Zealand Units will not transfer with the land.

Right of first refusal

Ngāti Apa will have a right of first refusal for a period of 50 years to buy, at full market value, four Crown properties (the Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Ohakea, the Bulls Police Station, Marton Police Station residential house, Turakina School and Whangaehu School), should they ever be declared surplus to Crown requirements. In respect of the RNZAF Base Ohakea, the Rūnanga has agreed to provide Rangitikei-based iwi an opportunity to jointly purchase this property if the right of first refusal is exercised.

Deferred selection

Ngāti Apa will have the opportunity to purchase, at fair market value, four non-surplus Crown properties (three of which are to be leased back to the Crown and include land only) up to six months after Settlement Date:

• Part of Wanganui Forest (land and trees, approx 403ha)
• Marton Court House (Sale and Leaseback, land only, approx 0.2663ha)
• Marton Police Station (excluding the residential Police house) (Sale and Leaseback, land only, approx 0.2762ha); and
• Wanganui Prison (Sale and Leaseback, land only, approx 49.164ha). In respect of the Wanganui Prison land the Rūnanga has agreed to provide Whanganui Iwi an option to purchase 50 percent of that land. The details of this including the commercial terms are yet to be agreed.