AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 494, 17 November 1881, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(Per s.s. Alhambra, via the Bluff.) Melbourne, Nov. 9. The case Smith v. Iffla occupied the Supreme Court several days, and excited a good deal of interest. The plaintiff, a shopkeeper on Emerald Hill, sued defendant, a doctor, for LI ,030 damages for signing a certificate under which he was committed as a lunatic. Smith was jealous of his wife, and accused her of improper conduct with neighbors. A mass of evidence was adduced on both sides, the plaintiff's case being that the wife wanted the husband out of the way, having previously asked for a separation. Smith was confined some time, but was eventually released. None of the medical witnesses would swear that he was insane. The jury gave a verdict for L 520. The stakes paid over at the Spring Meeting amounted to L 12,654. The Maribyrnong Plate was worth LI,815; the Melbourne Cup, L 1,805. The bookmakers won largely throughout the meeting. One owns to L 25,000. Claims amounting to over L 45.000 by the fifteen sufferers in the Jolimont railway accident will be referred to juries. This does not include the widows of the four men killed.