WELLINGTON, Jan. 31 -- New Zealand's Parliament has yesterday passed the Treaty of Waitangi settlement for Mount Taranaki, formally recognising its legal personhood and restoring its ancestral name.
Radio New Zealand reported that the settlement acknowledges the British Crown's 1865 confiscation of the mountain and nearly half a million hectares of land.
As part of the agreement, Mount Egmont will cease to be an official geographic name, and Egmont National Park will be renamed Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki. The highest peak will also be formally recognised as Taranaki Maunga.
Te Kahui Tupua, a collective of Maori tribes - called "iwi" - and Crown representatives, will oversee the park's management, while the land itself will be vested as a le...