Attempts are under way to improve the sometimes vexed relationship between Palmerston, in East Otago, and the North Island's Palmerston North.
Palmerston North Mayor Jono Naylor has been invited by Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton to visit Palmerston.
The competition - and confusion - between Palmerston (population 900) and Palmerston North (population 75,000) has been ongoing since Palmerston was surveyed in 1864 and Palmerston (North) was established in 1866.
The Post Office demanded the northern Palmerston adopt the North suffix in 1871 and NZ Railways Department requested Palmerston become Palmerston South in the 1890s. But the name Palmerston South was seldom used.
