ACTION FOR LIBEL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2544, 19 August 1915, Page 7

ACTION FOR LIBEL

"BROUGHT BY TROOPER'S .WIDOW. (By TalezraDl —Press 'Association.) Chrlstchurclv August, 18. At the civil sittings of the Supreme 1 "Court this' morning, before-Mr.- Justice ' Denniston and 'a jufy, the case of 'Annie Hawk (Mr. Alpers) v. the- "Lyttelton Times" Company, Ltd. (Mr. :Georgo Harper)-was heard. ; Plaintiff claimed £501 for alleged libel, f'there being six causes of action, set out. ; The statement of claim stated thati plaintiff is a soldier's widow, and was ;'sn receipt of an allotment, of money from the New Zealand Defence Depart•rcent, and also of a weekly allowance . •by way of gratuity from the Canterbury , , Patriotic" Fund. ; ' • • : The first cause of action, in respect to which £25 was claimed, was the publication in the "Star" (published by the de- i fendant company) of a letter from Mr. • R. T. Toss-will, .secretary of the Canterbury Patriotic Fund; -to plaintiff, in which-.the-writer stated: "It was made to appear that the Defence. Department • had stopped yotir allotments, and this fund was not contributing to your support. As this is the second occasion that' the statements have been made 1 to the effect that no support was being granted by this fund, I would ask you to be most-careful in future, as other- | ,wise you might lay yourself open to a . •charge of obtaining money by falso pre- ; tences." From this and tlie other consents of the letter it', was alleged that plajntiff instigated _ and authorised two ! /persons, Mr. O'Neil and ono other, to ; {approach the Mayor; of Christchurch I | (Mr. H. Holland) with the view to ob- : . : t,lining further assistance in money for. ' ■ plaintiff by falsely pretending that she ,was not in receipt of support from the , ; Patriotic Fund. The second cause of { action in respect to which £50 was , • claimed was the publication of (in article , | in the. "Star" of June 21, headed' "The 1 Hawk Case." The third, in respect to I .which £200 was claimed, was the publi- ' cation in the "Star" of June 25 of an article headed "The Hawk Case; thie Committee Explains at a Special Meeting to-day." Tho_ fourth, fifth, and sixth causes of action were the publication of "the same matters in the "Lytteltou Times.'' In respect to the -fourth joavse of action, £25 was eraimedj on (tho fifth cause £50, and on the sixth - cause £151. . The statement of claim alleged in re- < spect to the report of the meeting of the committee that by the words "He ! (the Mayor) thought that the commit- i tee had justified its objects in con- . serving the fund and would not let it 1 be plundered by anyone," the defendant j meant and intended that Mrs. Hawk had < attempted to plunder the Patriotic ] Fund, and by the words "those who 1 would plunder the fund if they could" 1 the defendant meant and intended that < plaintiff was one of those who would ' plunder the fund if they could. ! The defence was a denial of false and , malicious publications, tho pleas of j privilege, and claiming that the report , of the meeting of the Patriotic Fund < Committee, was published bona-fido and I without malice. ■ The hearing lasted all day, and the case was adjourned till to-morrow.