THE WELLINGTON LIBEL CASE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1624, 30 October 1874, Page 410

THE WELLINGTON LIBEL CASE.

The following is a portion of the evidence in the libel case Steele v. Hutchison, heard in Wellington on the 12th instant : William Hutchison (called by the prosecuting counsel, Mr Travers), depesed: I am proprietor and editor of The Tribune newspaper. It has a fair circulation, but I should like if it were larger still. It circulates throughout the province. It has also a system of exchange with other colonial papers. I witnessed one performance of the plaintiff's company. The performance consisted of the "Wreck Ashore," and the "Dumb Man of Manchester." Cross-examined by the Attorney-Gene-ral : I had never seen the " Wreck Ashore " performed previously. Steele acted as Grampus. I was disappointed with Steele's acting. He did not appear to know his part. When he was at a loss, Steele would interpolate words such as"d me," "devil in hell," &c, which had no relation to anything that went before or came after. They were put in to fill up the pauses. Keogh was playing in the same piece. From time to time he was making love to the girls, and doing so, as I think, indecently. [The witness here explained the language and gestures complained of.] It is not easy to convey to the Court an impression which depends upon leers and gestures and inuendoes. I presume from the references to Dr. Bones he was a medical man. He appeared to be well up in midwifery. The pit was full of lads smoking clay pipes, shouting, stamping, and apparently much liking the talk. This was the principal feature of the case. Another person, Hesf ord, was acting the part of a parish beadle, and he comes on as a beastly drunken man. It was not only simulated drunkenness—the whole exhibition was vulgar, coarse, and hurtful to morals. On one occasion he gets upon a chair and harangues the peasants around him. Beference is made to the Queen, to her widowhood, and to her visiting that part of the country for a husband, when Keogh interjects, and with a leer gives point to the remark, that the services of Dr. Bones would be required. The language was most offensive and indecent. There were no persons that I could see in the dress circle on the night I was there, the stalls also were nearly empty. The pit was well filled. In the " Dumb Man of Manchester " there is nothing offensive, only the dumb man would make it so. He turned a number of factory girls about in a manner that was unbecoming, and the playing was of the poorest description. Ee-examined by Mr Travers : I am opposed to no innocent amusement. I have read any number of novels—too many of them perhaps. I read Punch. After seeing the indecent exhibition at the theatre, I was waiting for a suitable opportunity to point to it, and it so happened that ray reporter handed me in a paragraph giving his views on the subject on the Tuesday after. He had gone to the theatre by no request of mine, and the paragraph was entirely spontaneous on his part. I read the paragraph, added the sentence at the end of it about rowdyism and drunkenness, from what I myself had seen, and passed it on to the printers. The paragraph is not very well put, but we have to write in haste. I was convinced it was true, and accept'the responsibility of it« The whole acting when I was there was done to please the pit, and pander to a depraved taste. John Morgan, Wanganui, (called for the defence), deposed: I attended the Provincial Council, in May last, and one Saturday night went with Mr Hutchison to the theatre. Saw the " Wreck Ashore " and the " Dumb Man of Manchester." The acting, in my opinion was bad. Steele acted a ship captain. He did it poorly. He was rough, and swore. I remember Keogh having a part, in which he always referred to Dr. Bones, and referred to him in a way which, when helped out by indecent gestures, made his acting very indecent. The larrikins were quite delighted with it. I remember the drunken beadle. I did not think it was well done. Cross-examined: I do not remember particulars, but I remember the impression I carried away with me, that the whole thing was rough and improper. I sat it out and laughed sometimes. I could not help it, the thing was so ridiculous. Yes, I sat it out, and if you wish to know why I did so I will tell you. [Mr Travers—No, I do not wish to know.] George Alderton deposed i I am a re* porter on The Tribune. It is part of my duty to attend places of amusement, t have been connected with the press about six years. I have had considerable experience during that time in criticising theatrical performances. I have seen a large number of " stars" perform—Walter Montgomery, Talbot, Bandmann, John H. Hall,Hoskins,Rainer—and have witnessed all the companies that have visited this colony during the past five or six years. There have been better companies performing at Auckland than ever visited the South. They perform there on their way to America. I went to the Theatre Royal on the night of the 4th May, and wit' nessed the performance of the " Bronze Horse " and the " Irish Emigrant," I went to the theatre of my own will. I had no instructions to go there. Douglas and Keogh played in the Irish Emigrant. Douglas played the drunkard well. Keogh played in the Bronze Horse. His gestures were very offensive. In conversation with Hesford ho makes some very suggestive and offensive gestures accompanied with a vulgar guttural noise. .Hesford, who had a very dissipated appearance, returned the gestures. The company required much prompting, and the acting was very poor. The dresses were extremely shabby. Some of the performers appeared timid* One female when addressing any conversation to another, was so bashful as to turn her back upon the audience. I wrote a paragraph the next morning and handed it to the editor in the usual manner. I meant by "dingledangle " that the acting was poor and ic«

different—more particularly the general physique of the performers was not suited to the stage. Cross examined: I had only been a week in Wellington when I saw the performanceI may have said after the paragraph appeared that I would make it " hot" for the company for not advertizing with us. I do not recollect saying anything of the kind. Never had occasion to use such strong language before. I have never previously witnessed such a shabby performance.

A Home paper states that Major Villiers Le Marchant Butler, of the 65th, who was wounded in the New Zealand war, was found dead recently, lying in a pool of blood, at his lodgings, Regent-street, London. Rupture of a blood-vessel was tho cause of death. The Wanganui Chronicle says:—Our Palmerston correspondent reports a remarkable discovery, which, if fully authenticated, will make its mark on the Bcientific annals of New Zealand. Within a few miles of Palmerston, a party of surveyors lately came across a human figure, sculptured out of the solid rock, with a degree of skill, far superior to any of the works of art (if they can be so called) hitherto known to have been executed by the Maoris. Moreover, as far as we know, the Maoris, while acquainted with the art of carving in wood, which they have always been accustomed to practise freely, have never attempted rock carvings, and the inference would therefore be open that this particular piece of sculpture was the work of an aboriginal race. It is said that the sculpture is carried out to minute details, even the finger-nails being clearly cut out. Our correspondent promises to visit the spot personally, and we shall await with interest the result of his investigation, as at present he merely repeats what he has heard from others. Whilst Mr Gathorne Hardy was speaking in the House of Commons against the Public Worship Regulation Bill, an amusing incident occurred. A grey cat entered, either by the Opposition gangway or the Clerk's table. When it was seen it was leisurely proceeding across the floor; but at a shout Grimalkin became frightened out of its wits, and instead of rushing back the way it came, it dashed across the shoulders of hon. members sitting upon the front Ministerial benches, and jumped over a succession of heads, until it vanished by a side door. No one listened to Mr Hardy any more, and facetious members, of course, endeavored to improve the occasion. The cat, it was said, knew that in the person of Sir W Harcourt and Mr Hardy himself, there were "rats" about, and had thus been attracted to the House. Others said that there were so many trimmers in the House, that they naturally wanted to see which way "the cat jumped," and Grimalkin had come in to gratify so reasonable a wish. An important judgment has been delivered by Judge Pohlman as to the right of a bank to debit the account of an insolvent with the amount of a dishonored acceptance. The trustee of the insolvent estate of Morris and M'Murray, wholesale grocers, made an application to the Court for an order directing the Union Bank to pay him £175 Is Bd., which was the amount in the bank to the credit of the insolvents when they failed. The application bad been resisted by the bank on the ground that they had only £23 in their hands to the credit of the insolvents. Certain facts were admitted by both sides at the hearing, from which it appeared that before Morris and M'Murray failed they accepted a bill of Bury, Leech, and Co., for £152 Is Bd. The bank discounted the bill, placing it to the account of Bury, Leech, and Co., and when the insolvents failed they (the bank) claimed that they were entitled to deduct the amount of the bill from the sum to the credit of the insolvents. His Honor, decided that they were so entitled, and gave judgment in favor of the bank.