ANOTHER LIBEL CASE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 911, 2 September 1910, Page 7

ANOTHER LIBEL CASE.

RACING MAN SUES. ' ', PAID INTO COURTi -AND APOLOGY TO BE PUBLISHED. Tlio second'libel fiction against the. proprietors of the "Weekly Press" and."New Zealand Kei'eree" was settled iii tlio Supremo Court, Paluierston, yesterday, morning before his : Honour Mr. Justice Cooper, when G. 13. Baldwin claimed tho sum of .£SOO damages for libel. Mr. C. A. Lemghlan, and with him Mr. P. B. Baldwin, appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. I A. L. lleruinan for delendant. The libel was said to have contained in the publication of plaintiff : in tho forfeit list in the issues of the NewZealand Eacing Calendar from March 30 to May i, 1910, the words complained of reading : ■" G. B. Baldwin due to F. Hall, &;'■ . • .. • '■• . .-: ,;, Defendant company admitted the publication, and. said'it had been made'in error. was paid inti Court. His Honour, when tho case caine on, asked what the position was. Mr. Baldwin said : thai; the ; statement was contained iii a book of reference; and would remain there for all time. What was -wanted was an apology. Mr. Herdman pointed out thnt the defendants were quite, willing to give an apology. The publication of the ..line ■was pure inadvertence. : His Honor wanted to know if the plaintiff was willing to accept .£SO. Mr. Baldwin: Not without an apology, your Honour:: Mr. Herdman said the ',£SO was paid into Court, but it was not necessarily expected that that would be the amount of the damages awarded, v ' 'His Honour thought,, however, that as the "Referee" had paid that sum; into Courkitwas a very good indication of ftlie amount of damage which they considered tlio plaintiff was, likely, to suffer by. the publication of the libel. ! His Honour, at the snino time, considered that while i£so was substantial damages, the injury' suffered hy - plaintiff might .have been serious. "A racing'man (which! am not) might, construe such a charge into,,oure r of misconduct,, and I don't think the amount excessive." After- consultation between ;Mr._ Bald-: win and. Mr. Herdman,; it ..was decided to publish, the following apology:—"We regret that in our issues of March 30, 1910, to May 4, 1910,'. appeared an -entry under part xxxii, rule 9: G. B. Baldwin due to u'. Halt,'.£s. The statement so'made ■was incorrect, as G. B. Baldwin was. not indebted 1 to ;F. HaU in any sura '.what-, ever, and his nnme should, not. have, appeared ■in such publication." . ... Judgment was therefore given for paid into Court, together with costs up to the time, the money was paid in. • ~