LABOUR AT LAW.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1668, 7 February 1913, Page 5

LABOUR AT LAW.

♦ - ,- , | ALLEGED LIBEL. j ' — ! TWO CASES AT AUCKLAND. ( STORMY PASSAGES. ' .( (By Tclogrnph.—Press Association I ' , Auckland, lYlmmry (t. x } Two notions for alleged hlxsl aganibl < the Federation of nnd Alexander ) Gngg wore hoard in tlio Supremo Couit before. Judge Edwards 10-da;. 'J'ho tub- v * jeet mattci in complaint wcie paragraphs published in tho "Mnonlnnd Woikor'',* during tho contioversy o\or tho Waiki } strike ; Plaintiffs were respectively Thomas , '| Walsh, pub'luhei of the paper "Voice of ' Lttboui," and William P Black, who ( described himself as manager of tho com- , pany publishing tho "Voice of Labour." Uach plaintiff claimed jC4. r iO damages _ K ' Tlic cases woro heaid separately. , \ Mr. M. New-ton appeared for plaintiff ( and Sn John rindlny, with him Mr. 1 < P. J. O'Regan, for defendants. Tho hear- ] ing of tho cases occupied all day, < In tho caso of Walsh tho article was i claimed by defendants to bo a contribution to political controversy. On tho ■ other hand it was advanced that tlicro ' t n was no' ground for tho personal attack i , niado on Walsh, by name, in that hn ; . paper had mado geneul clmiges against <■ > 1 tho organisation. ~ i Tho jury awarded JCSO damages. Costs * j were alloyed. . A * In. tho caso of Black plaintiff denied, " r authorship of tho article, whioh 'wcro ! tho subject of tho alleged abusivo com- ! ! '{ ments of tho "Sfaonland Worker." Tlio* < point which defendants stressed'was that ' ' no epecifio reference was mado to Black l| ' in tho article, and therefore there was no ) libel. - - j During Hid hearing stormy passages occurred between Black and Sir John rind- , lay during 1 the former's cro<;s-examination, ' I Tho jury returned a verdict for defendants for whom judgment was given with ' costs. >■ v' Tho Judge romaikcd tliat tho u*o of such ' violent language as that employed by 1 both journals should bo suppressed ly | law.