DR. M'NAB V. "THE DOMINION"

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2234, 21 August 1914, Page 4

DR. M'NAB V. "THE DOMINION"

On the Ist day of June we published in-our columns the following letter:— "NEW ZEALAND HISTORICAL RECORDS. "Sir,—ln your issue of May 2. under, the heading y- 'Personal Items, you state, regarding Mr. Robert M'Nab, late M.P. for Mataura, that a certain University degree, to wit, a. Doctor of Literature, had beeu, or was about to be; conferred on him. In virtue thereof. ' Murihiku' and 'The NeV Zealand Historical Records' are mentioned _as having been submitted by him, he being the author of the one and the alleged editor of the other. What I wish to trouble you about is the ground upon, which the last-named assertion is based. As a. niatter of faot, Mr. M'Nab has nothing whatever to do with these records. I spent some months in Sydney, Hobart, etc., extracting their data from the records, and one way, and another I must have spent months' in Stewart, Ruapuka, and other offshore islands getting together the reliable information of the Maoris and half-castes versed on the subject. ■■ I mado the arrangement with Sir Joseph Ward (then Prime Minister) to produce them as a Government publication or reference book. They were put .through the press of the 'Otago Daily Times' Office, and no one' handled them for the press purposes but myself. Mr. M'Nab could not even have seen them cither in manuscript copy or proof sheets,.or, indeed, in any shape until they appeared in print. Of course, I am well pleased to find they are deonied of sufficient merit to shunt Mr. M'Nab. on to the upper grade in literary faiie, but I think you will agree with lie that ■it is scarcely fair he should get all the kudos, seeing he did absolutely none of the work. "Nelson, May 14 "(Sgd.)R. S.CARRIOK." 2. Mr. M'Nab, feeling that the statements in this letter imputed to him the use of Mr.: Carrick's work to-impro-perly secure his degree of Doctor.of Literature, has brought an action for libel against the Company, which publishes this journal. , 8. We desire to express our regret for tho insertion in our columns of Mr. Carrick's letter, and we freely state that any imputation it contained that Dr. M'Nab was not the sole editor and compiler of "The New Zealand Historical Records" in question, or that he obtained his- Doctorate of Literature by submitting to tho University authorities any work of which he was not the true and sole author, is absolutely without foundation. We have always given credit to.Mr. M'Nab for his industry and single-mindness as an.au. thor, and we sought to correct the false impression given by Mr, Carnclc s letter in our issues of the sth day of June and 2nd day of July respectively, the first correotion being inserted before wo had knowledge of the issue of the writ, and the second after we obtained a full knowledge of the facts. 4. As Mr. M'Nab doos not desire to accept damages, he has agreed to the settlement of this action upon our contributing one hundred poundß (£100) to the "Patriotic Fund," paying h\s costs in full, and publishing this settlement. ■