The deal worth nearly NZ$420 million (S$410 million) will give seven Maori tribes in the central North Island control of 176,000 hectares of commercial forestry land and NZ$223 million in accumulated rents.

The tribes, which represent more than 100,000 people, will also receive annual rents of NZ$13 million, becoming the largest private forestry land owners in New Zealand.

Representatives of the iwi (tribes) sang in the public gallery of parliament after the legislation was passed.

Treaty Settlements Minister Michael Cullen said the legislation 'embodies an historic journey and settlement'.

The deal is part of a process of settling Maori grievances over their loss of land and other natural resources after sovereignty of the country was signed over by many Maori chiefs to Britain in the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.

In return, Maori were promised they would keep control of their land and resources.

Maori claim much of their land was taken in unfair sales and confiscations after British settlers started arriving in large numbers in the mid-19th century.

Mr Cullen reiterated the government wanted to settle all Maori claims by 2020.

'A time will and must come when the Crown (state) and Maori live as partners under the treaty, not as those restoring a broken past, but moving forward together into a healed future,' he said.

The main opposition National Party and other political parties in parliament supported the settlement.

National's Maori affairs spokesman Georgina te Heuheu said her party would continue to accelerate the pace of settlements of Maori grievances if it formed a government after national elections on November 8.

'This is a great day, not only for the iwi of the central North Island, but for all New Zealanders,' she said. -- AFP