A RESOLUTE JOURNALIST.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1025, 14 January 1911, Page 4

A RESOLUTE JOURNALIST.

9 , THE MISSION OF THE PRESS. (By Telegraph-Press Association.) , Hastings, January 13. This morning Mr. E. S. M'Carthyj S.M., gave judgment in a test case bearing upon tho rights of ratepayers to inspect tho accounts of borough councils. A. A. Georgo charged the Hastings Borough Council with refusing to allow him to inspect the borough wagessheet for the purposo of publishing the same in a newspaper. This information was laid under Section 109 of the Municipal Corporations Act. Mr. M'Carthy, in his • judgment, states that informant is proprietor of a weekly paper, and lias been in. the habit of publishing extracts from . the borough accounts, and the council,, with a view to stopping this,, directed the treasurer not- to allow informant -the right of inspection unless ho - undertook not to publish the informatioa so gained. Had informant given the. uu-. dertaking he would have. betrayed his trust as a journalist Moreover, the Corporations Act nowhere authorises the imposing of such a condition. To impose such a condition is to nullify justifications for the existence of the press, which is to throw the fullest fight on public matters,' provided that what is done is without, malice—truthful, and in tlio public interest. The judgment concludes: "In my opinion the resolution of the council affords-no defence to the action of defendant in refusing to allow informant to inspect-." A fine of Is. and costs, £2 25., was .imposed, counsel for de« fendant being allowed fourteen d?yß i 37 i which to file appeals.