£5 'DAMAGES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 22, 21 October 1918, Page 6

£5 'DAMAGES

— 9 FOR STATEMENT ABOUT AN HOTELKEEPER. / By Teleerapli—Hrcss Association. Stratford, October 17. Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., lienrd, this morning, a claim for £90 for damages, preferred by Cecil Arden, lwtelkeeper, against W. 'H. Hawkins, temperance lecturer, and captain in the Expeditionary Force v for an allegedly malicious statement, contained in a letter published in the Stratford "Post." The defendant, in the letter, referred to the "slimy hands" of the liquor traffic, and insinuated that the plaintiff had presented a drum to the Stratford Band in order to make the liquor influence felt and to hinder tlic band playing for \ temperance Meetings. Judgment Was given for the plaintiff, for £5 damages and costs, the plaintiff having admitted that his character and business had not suffered, and that he was not affected in any way by the libel except, that he had been accused of giving the drum for the purpose of getting a hold on the band in the liquor interest. [A later Press Association message states: —"Counsel for Captain Hawkins takes exception to the wording of the above telegram. His client, he states, was not employed as a prohibition lecturer, and had oifly casually given one lecture by request, without payment. 'Hie message also states that Captain Hawkins insinuated that plaintiff had given a drum to the band, but as a matter of fact he knew nothing about plaintiff or the'gift of any dtum, and it was clearly by accident that his general words fitted plaintiff.]