The country's biggest tribe is negotiating an agreement for jobs and prosperity for its members - but fierce infighting is hindering the process and costing it millions.

In a year that is unusually crowded with historical commemorations, one that may escape attention is the 170th anniversary of the flagpole in Russell.

Trout, deer, pigs and other exotic species would have to be culled from the Ureweras under a law change before Parliament, fishers and hunters are warning Government.

The country's biggest iwi wants to move out of grievance mode and into talks with the Crown about settling its Treaty of Waitangi claims.

It's the middle of summer but you wouldn't know it as dozens of kaihoe (paddlers) brave the drizzle and blustery winds at Waitangi on what is New Zealand's most historic day.

Ngapuhi factions say PM John Key used his Waitangi Day speech as a platform to prematurely force a historic settlement with Ngapuhi in election year for political gain.

New Kiwi families were welcomed together as citizens at Government House today in the spirit of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Governor-General said.

Wet and blustery weather has failed to keep the crowds away from Waitangi with hundreds pouring on to the Treaty Grounds.

New Zealand’s largest iwi is seeking the biggest ever Treaty settlement - $500m to $600m.

Chief Justice Prendergast said that because the Treaty of Waitangi had been signed "between a civilised nation and a group of savages" and had no formal status in domestic law.

Reporter Sarah Illingworth speaks to eight Kiwis from different backgrounds about what the Treaty and our national day mean to them.

There was calm at Waitangi's Te Tii Marae yesterday with some locals going as far to say that things were "pretty tame and chilled".

February 6 is Waitangi Day and, every year, there are arguments about what this day means to New Zealand. There is no one answer.

Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins take a look back 200 years to the magnificent event which heralded the start of permanent Pakeha settlement.

John Key offered a challenge of his own to protesters at what he said was one of the quietest pre-Waitangi Day visits to Te Tii Marae in many years, despite a pilchard protest.

Those who disrupt the PM's attendance at Te Tii Marae are 'crapping on their own heritage', according to NZ First leader Winston Peters.

Treaty settlements tend to disappear from public view a day after they have been announced. Not so for an imminent settlement with Auckland iwi.

Photos and mementoes of the late Parekura Horomia will be presented at Waitangi today in memory of the politician who never missed Waitangi Day at the historic Treaty grounds.

The Crown has signed a multi-million dollar settlement for all outstanding historical Treaty claims with Bay of Plenty iwi.

An initiative to get every child in New Zealand to visit Waitangi before they leave school was launched in Auckland.