The "H" debate has Wanganui residents on both sides reaching back into the past to prove their spellings are legitimate.
The Wanganui District Council voted on December 19 to ask the New Zealand Geographic Board to include an "H" in the spelling of the district which would, in turn, change the spelling of the council's name. Many residents are opposed to this.
Former Wanganui council candidate Ian Brougham, a member of the One New Zealand Foundation, produced a copy of the tohu or signatures of "Wanganui chiefs" who signed the Treaty of Waitangi in May 1840.
Ross Baker, the foundation's researcher, has said the document was overseen by the Reverend Henry Williams who would have listened to the pronunciation of Wanganui and written the name accordingly.
"If it sounded like the word 'where', 'what' or 'whale', then Williams would have spelt it with an 'h' - but it must had sounded like 'watch', 'water' or 'wave', therefore no 'h'.