Wellington City Council has agreed to drop legal action for the return of a disputed waka, and will commission a new vessel.
The waka was intended to be the centrepiece of a new canoe house, which opened on Waitangi Day on the city's waterfront.
Waiwhetu Maori in Hutt Valley had refused to release the council-commissioned waka, Te Raukura, until cultural safeguards were put on its care and use.
A deal has now been reached under which Waiwhetu Maori will reimburse the council $150,000 dollars to keep the waka.
The Council says the sum is sufficient to commission a new waka.
Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says a drawn-out and expensive court battle would not have been in the interests of ratepayers.
