RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT, QUEENSTOWN.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 119, 20 February 1872, Page 5

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT, QUEENSTOWN.

Saturday, February 17. i (Before Richmond Beetham, Esq., R. 31.) CHARGE OF LIBEL. ! William Warren, printer and publisher of the i Lake I Yakatip Mail, appeared in answer to a criminal information preferred against him by ; Ur James Macassey, of Dunedin, brrrister-at- ; law, for that he did “unlawfully, wilfully, and maliciously publish, in a certain newspaper called ; the Wahatip Mail, a wilful, malicious, and defamatory libel of and concerning” the said James Macassey. Before the commencement of proceedings, j those persons who had been subpoenaed as witi nesses in the case was ordered to leave the j Court. The Usual practice of calling upon the defeni daut to plead to the indictment was not followed ; I in this case, —for what reason we are unable to • 1 state. The Prosecutor appeared personally in supj port of the information, and said that the defen- | daut had published in the Wakatip Mail of j February 14- an article containing an imputation ' j which, were it proved, would render him (the j prosecutor) liable to serious penal consequences. ' The particular portion of the article referred to ;! was as follows “ It is currently reported that 5 J Air Miller has—for a consideration—retired in i j favour of Mr .Macassey.” The publication of • j such a rumour was likely to expose him (the i prosecutor) to public contempt, and he could :; not allow the rumour to go forth to the public ! without calling it in question. He had told the . j defendant there was not the slightest tittle or ; i shadow of foundation for the statement made, 1 1 and had, given him ample opportunity to apoloi j gise or to disclose the name of his authority, ! j but the defendant had refused to do either. I He (the prosecutor) would now go into the wits i ness box. 1 The Defendant, addressing the Court, said he 1 1 had been unable to obtain the services of a pro- ■ j fessional adviser, as he understood that Mr Hurton—the only available counsel—had been i subpoenaed as a witness for the prosecution. Prosecutor : Mr Turton will not be called upon to give evidence for the prosecution. ! ! Mr Turton said he had been under the im--11 pression that he would be called as a witness, | and for that reason had declined to undertake ■ i the defence. M ith the leave of the Court, how- : ; ever, he would now appear for the defendant. ; S _ [ D'° depositions arc too lengthy for us to pubi i lish in full, and we will therefore confine our j report to the most important points eiicitc I in 11 the evidence, j ■ | James Macassey, barrister-at-law, sworn, de’i posed ; I am one of 1 lie candidates for the re- :■ | presentation of this district in Parliament. The M two other candidates are Mr James Miller and i Mr B. Hnllenstein. I produce a copy of the ’ i 11 'akatip Mad of the 14th inst. In that number 5 j there is a leading article upon the subject of the approaching election. It contains a statement ■ in these words “ It is currently reported that i Mr Miller has -for a consideration—retired in favour of Mr Macassey.” 1 take that statement to mean that Miller was induced to retire in my ■ favour for some pecuniar ; consideration, or some -1 other benefit given to him by me. I beg to say 11 there is not a tittle or shadow of foundation for f j the assertion. I never made any overture, di- } rectly or indirectly, to Mr Miller to retire iu my 7 favour. I never hold out to him any money or - any other inducement to withdraw in my inter- - csfc. Previous to my seeing Mr Miller, a Mr r Hildreth waited upan mo in Queenstown, and I ollered, in the name of Mr Miller, tint he should s | retire in my favour, —he suggesting that 1 should m pay Mr Miller’s expenses as an inducement 1o j him to retire. I absolutely dclinod to entert in I the proposal in any shape or form. I said that 3 1 had I been asked to contribute to the funds I j of some public institution, such as the Hospital, (i 1 might not have objected. Bub to pay MilleI -—either directly or indirectly—any money as a f I consideration for him to withdraw, was smne--71 thing which 1 could not for a moment enteri | tain. On Friday, the 9th, in accordance with an arrangement, made with Hildreth, I went to t the Arrow, expecting to see Mr Miller himself. r He was not there ; but a Mr Symonds waited I on me, telling me he was instructed to sec me > I on Miller's behalf. Mr Symonds also gave mo 3 to understand that Miller was prepared to retire i in my favour, on payment of his expenses. T - told him this was a proposal I could not for a ’ moment entertain, and that he must tell Mr Mil--3 ler so. On the following day, I again saw Mr I Symonds at the Arrow, and be then told me - that he had seen Miller, who would have retired in my favour had 1 agreed to pay his expenses, T I Said there was an end of it, as t was not going i to treat with Miller on any such footing. On -1 the following Monday, Miller waited upon me at f j Arrowtown. and asserted that neither Hildreth , no:- Symonds was authorised to treat with mo on

his bdllalf. This was after I told him Of the proposals niade to me by them. I til l Miller {that to pay him money as afi inducement to retire would ill my opinion be bribery ; and would j unseat me if returned. The interview closed i by Air Miller stating he would retire in my faj vour if his own requisitinnists requested him to Ido so. I have now stated everything that passed between myself and Mr Miller or his agents on the subject. On Thursday, the 15th, 1 stopped Mr Warren on the street) and had a conversation with him, in presence of Mr Tartan. I told defendant, after drawing his attention to the article referred to, that there was not a shadow of foundation for the statement made that “it was currently reported. Mr Miller had—for a consi-deration-—retired ih my favour.” I further taid, “Now, Mr Warren, I reqiiire that you should at once publicly withdraw the charge you have made against me, and give me up the name of your informant. Unless you do so by 11 o’clock, I shall he under the necessity of preferring a criminal charge against you ” He. aske I me to give him until 12 o’clock, it then being 10.15. I said, No; I c mid give him no longer than 11, as the matter was of far too much importance to mo to remain longer uuanswe-el. I have only further to say that this statement is calculated to do mo serious damage in the mindh of people who are unacquainted with me. Cross-examined by Air Turton : My object hi i prosecuting the defendant is to vindicate my ! character against the foul aspersion sought to be i cast upon it. The prosecution has not been I instituted for political purposes. I did not say I that 1 would give a donation to the Hospital. | The only proposal made to me was that I should j pay Miller's expenses. The evidence of W. T. Hildreth, miner, of Whitechapel Flat, corroborated that given by I the prosecutor regarding the interview between i them. In cross-examination, the witness said i he made the proposals to Macassey on his own : account. A question put by the Bench elicited i the reply that witness was a paid canvasser for ■ Miller. William M'Dougall, storekeeper, Arrowtown, : gave evidence confirmatory of prosecutor’s verI sion of the interview between himself and Aliller. i In cross-examination, witness said it had been currently reported—prior to the interview referred to—that Miller was going to retire in favour of Macassey. James Miller, miner, Arrow lliver: I am a candidate for the representation of the Wakatip district in Parliament. Prosecutor, on Monday I last, offered me no consideration to retire. He ! told mo he would not pay me anything, but to the best of my belief he said he would have no j objection to give £SO to the Hospital. 1 was i rathpr excited at the time, ami do not remember exactly what passed. At that time it was currently reported that I was going to retire in j favour of prosecutor : that was the reason why | I wished to meet the prosecutor—to put an end to the rumour. 1 understood- the sum he was to give to the Hospital was in lieu of payment of my expenses. What the prosecutor said was, that he might pay £SO to the Hospital or some public institution if L retired. 1 did not autho- ! rise Symonds to tell the prosecutor that if my i expenses were paid I would retire. Prosecutor ; The last witness (Mr Miller) has i stated that I offered to give £SO to the Hospital. ; I wish to state that this is incorrect. The words j “fifty pounds” never passed my lips. What I | did say was, that in order to show that I did 1 not wish to take advantage of Aliller’s canvass, 1 1 might give an amount to the Hospital equal to I the expenses incurred by Aliller. | Henry Alauders. sworn and examined :I am ■ a correspondent of the Press, and a writer for i the Wakatip Mail. The article to which my I attention has been drawn was contributed by me. j Bendix Hallcustein, merchant :I am one of I the candidates for the representation of this district in Parliament. I did not wait upon Air Barton, knowing he was a personal friend of the prosecutor, with the view of getting him to in--1 duce the prosecutor to abandon proceedings. I i went to hint to express my indignation at prosei cutor’s conduct in accusing me of being concerned in the publication of the article. If one is full of indignation, one likes to give vent to it. His Worship remarked that the prosecutor, in his examination of the witness, seemed to be going beyohd the limits of the case. ! Air Turton (to witness) ; Was it currently rei ported that Macassey had given a consideration to Miller to resign ? The Prosecutor objected that the existence of I a rumour would not justify the publication of a libellous statement, and quoted authorities in I proof of the soundness of h.s objection, i Examination continued ; 1 hid sonic converI satiou with prosecutor regarding the election, and advised him not to give anything to Miller, • because so doing would not ensure his election. ! Prosecutor stated at the time that he would not i give a penny to Miller to retire. 1 understood I him to say that he might or would give, as an | act of grace, something to the Hospital ; and he | also stated he would not give anything to Miller | in any shape or form. ! This was the case for the prosecution ; and j his Worship adjourned the ease for an hour and j a half. j At the adjourned Court, Mr Becthan said the { prosecutor’s case was finished: what did the defendant intend doing? Mr Turton submitted that a prlmn facie case had not been made out, sufficient to justify the committal of the accused. He had consulted with his client, and he Woul I leave the case as it stood. His Worship delivered a lengthened judgment. There was not, in the Court’s npini >n, sn lieient I evidence upon which to send the case for trial. The sentence in the article referred to —“ It is ; currently repo ted that Mr Miller han -for a j consideration—retired in favour of Mr Macassey” : —was haully libellous, though it approached, in the opinion of the Court, v- rv closely to a libel. | There was no doubt tint the latter part of the j article was highly spiced, and contained the Sting; but no libel had been proved. 'flic i Court deferred t» Mr ATacasscy’s knowledge of the law* of libel ; for, during the ten years Mr Beetham had sat upon the Bench, no similar | case had corns under his nolice. He wou’d, however, express an opinion that the article was unnecessarily written and unwarranted. —-The S case was dismissed. Air Macassey applied that the depositions bo | forwarded to the -Supreme Court, Dune lin. as he intended to take other i •roses li.-igo. The rcpics', w.p anted.