Last Night's- Meeting.

Manawatu Herald, 8 September 1892, Page 2

Last Night's- Meeting.

Ip response to the invitation of Messrs McMillan and Osborne a large number rolled up-at the Tem..perance hall fco hear their views on 1 Municipal ,matte^B. •'His Worship -the Mayor Va* voted 1 ;t6 the chair. c '" "• ■ Il! - I')-- -■ At first there was a great diffidence about coming forward, Mr McMillan ; having, .waived; bis. rjghj to sp^lc '&M., so' ;thas the other" candidates woo" ■were present might have, a show. Mr Startup at last cams forward and expressed his opinion as, to /.the,; - conduct of the edifcpr/ of the- .MJana - :- --1 watu ibsß^D. Ho "said ho was the

much abused candidate.- He 'msnalso the various- designations 1 by which the said newspaper could be fittingly described^ proving that he was much interested in /the contents of a newspaper which he saw. regularly by borrowing. He said thjit when last elected his platform had been " reduction in advertising; 1 . 1 . He was in favour of the water supply and .taxation of aIL. who .used. it. Last year £300 had been spent on the roads. The Public . Warksu • Committee were answerable for the administration of this • suity and.; he . was, f not;a BaembNir .of 'it. -Hil : w6ul3.' be in v favour of a lo^,n. He would go in for 4 or 5 more* lamps yet. He wanted sittings of Council in the j •>, eve'uing ' sib' Jfchat the public t cpuldj attend. ''..'.' ' . . ' . ,'..' ;

In .answer, to,', questions, Me v Startup"' said the4mbi\nt of rate's raised were some The tota> income 'of the BqroqgJi was hot quite . jeobo: y/' I ' l '.; •." l ; 1 ";. : r; 1 "■,;., ■"..„. Heve Mr, iWil|iams '■ ran uj} . "an^ ? ; ;• handed ihe candidate a . eppy ( , .pf '. the . last printed balance sheet ,,, of y the, Borough and. told him he h wqj4s' find all the. information in, tTb^t-"; „,,,... In reply. id, a re.quest ..thatVas .he now held a reTiablje .document: w.ojuld . he read what the total income of the Borough was 1 ? he read £1076. He .was asked to read what the cost of printing and advertising "for- the' 'Jltet ~> twelve montßti ; had' - e6si, -and reaii £48, but, he remarked, it. has been for the past c two ,yeara_ £75, 8-P,^ he claimed' lish&it tyi-: havtngf> iq reduced^:' vUj '- r ■•■ v% v On being askM, whether , he. had at any time' -in- his ■pla'ce'''in ii the ever moved a resolution to reduce the advertising account ? he said he hadLofien, spoke i|, . , ( but had noii h'dcefaewfnfc " from his brdther" CouncillorsT Xm~ the , .question, being. ,sgain put, Mr Startup was forced 'to say that he had never moved "any" resolution in this direction.

Mr McMillan then came forward and stated they knew his hobby was a good .water supply. Aiter speaking, on the 1 artesian sinking 'and road's he '" expressed his great surprise at ,the . warifi'of ftnowleflge of Borough affair^ ■ li *S shown by Mr Startup.. The rates insteM <tf Bein|j £340 ! as ! stated' by 1 " ! " j him were £425, and the income was not £500, or £1076 as Mr SfoHo l^"^ thought it was, but £797. He .would gladly have 'explained these matters to Mr,. Startup had he known thati'he needed it, : " Ut ■ Startup EMfr ] also said £825 was spent on road* whereas £525 ' was the sui#. ; : 'He',' '"' ' vthe speaker) was in favour, of sanitation 1 , and'-aisofof tho^ftpp^rati • < - ment of the constable as Inspector of NirisftnoesV>' <Re, i »; advertising- 'ibe; /.: c pointed out that Mr Startup did nofe understand the expense was forced!;-; n on |the Borough under different Acts, and the only control -they really exercised was advertising for tenders, and all would admit that not to call for tenders .b^ \ iadyerJfcitsemeßkvwould "be.bad policy He drew the atteution ! of the •meetingl t(9 th,e? pareftil. "mahnei 1 : w ■ n the Town Clerk attended to the collection of tna, orates,- , Jipilafin^'put; , ' ; ,that when he took office there were some £250 in arrears, and at the «nd of the last financial year there was only £10 not collected. He thought :this l -was* deservingi-of all; praise (applause.) He further showed -how---.bhJE!i of ; r. «; Borough had riseri from £500 in 1889 to £797 in 1892. *„.,,

After answering a few question* to the satisfaction of the meeting Mr McMillan made way for

Mi* Osborne who pointed out many roads <Uhat ne^ed^JattsniroaLfo'tH^n expressed himself in favour —of fi*('rnHking good approaches (to the. '-Borough, good water sitp ( 'p^/ta' ; ii!t. i:llj> ' t favour of sanitation., Mt^tfUb'tit'ii^'^' .replied to many >' 'question's l ' kpdt .satisfactorily. J . -tiMi-iL^:. ■,','j^Mr Austin* sitfid l ;h6 v ''&aHnot a talker, but thoiigh'heKkd^ moved many resolutfotts^fetli'ii'ii'aa succeeded in getting his'ow'h'wa'y'in the Counk\l. He proved JoT a water supply. ! As h^Bkflf-dbfa^'fnHhe past he proto doih : ; tih& fliture. • In'a'nMer- to 4^ffio'iis, he said 4he Council wfere libl<' < fo : ' 1 l)lame for the Wiuokino roa^ being'. r Wi ( tkA i up this winter. No one 1 Ws i iiKffff •in.terested in this road than *iJMsbW--H Mr R. Walden then addled --ttwil meeting in a good straightffSi'ward'""* speech, perhaps in place^Tfiore^efti^^ phatic than parliamentary^i'^bui evidently spoken without thef r least idea o^^fferi^ti^iiM^'lh^ught the outfeide roads v - 'Jrtfer* a 1 disgrace and in favour J p^a'loati : to' -put them «ig order. f He-'jjre'ferred roads to water. k; He 'Hatf twenty years ex-perience^lECroad'-'riSkking and draining. '■'••'■■'HvM A vote'-'bf'-i thanks to the Mayor brought aigdo'd* mating to a aatis.fa'ctory close. '■ 1 /T\to candidates, iMessrs Wilson ! atid ! Mcf herson did notiatfcend. •'• '^•'■'■••■{^yi'l

Wellington,' merely to prove the fact of Syina being on the list of registered chemists, and Dr Alexander 0. Milne, of "Woodville, who stated that he knew the prosecutor and the accused* Had read the article in the TYoodville Examiner of the 27th April, headed •* \ Soandalous Case." He knew it referred to Synis in consequence of a conver sation he had bad on the previous night with -ar-vnwed, who had told him that ho nail an article in type accusing tlia prosecutor of seduotion and,.atwrj,idn. Even if this conversation\fitA not taken placa he would have 'uad. no doubt as to whom the article referred. He would understand from the statement in the 'article that the woman referred to had-; been seduced, and that the prosecutor had tried to produce Abortion. Had had several convbisations with Mr Haggen since j *he article was published. Crossexamiheci': Mad been -Mr Haggen's medical attendant. Mr Syms was the chemist to whom he generally sent his prescriptions. 'Mr Baker, who defended Haggen desired to cross-question the witness to show what was known of Sym's pr&eticcs"; '^Mv Edwards objecting, His Honor refused to allow the Question being put. Vfier a lengthy argument between coua^l.an,4 His Honor, the witness stated. that the letter produced was »*ibfr ; written by him. Two other lettoi f s A were then' handed to him, and he'sta'ted that both of them had been written by him. The first letter was handed to His Honor for perusal. ... Mr Edwards said that in view of His Honor's rilling, and as the accused did not plead justification or deijy^tbe publication, he . ; wou ld not call further evidence^ but close his cafe..

Mr. Baker said that His Honor's rrtling apparently meant that he would tell the jury that if in their opinion this,, libel referred to the prosecutor they must find the prisoner guilty. '." . ' . .

His Honor: I should say they had nothing to do but to convict the prisoner.

Mr Edwards : I apprehend Your Honour will tell the jury that the publication of this article is malicious in law.

His Honor said he would tell the jury.if ij; was accidental then it was not nialice.

Mr Edwards pointed put that the libel had been repeated in other issues of the paper.

Mr Baker contended that it was incumbent upon the to give evidence of actual inalioe, and not implied jnalice. "There must be gome diMik--' evidence of persoual spite, wtiethef'it was privileged or not, they Had to prove that it was maliciously ; done. He argued that the statements made by- the accused were fair upon |he' information he had received. ' ?

HiLjJojior, in addressing the jury, saidjjijf<£%EJQo was a very simple one. Thej'ii^? rwjs liiiis j-If & person ihtentiomftly-- -^published what was defamatory, without establishing an excuse, he/ had acted maliciously. Notwithstanding , what, had been said by Mr Baker, he did not suppose that they were likely to form any different, opinjori than that which was'^Q .common sense of ages and the, law of thaland. The defendant if he hauVohp^eti -or hadbeeu able to justify, £nd prove i the truth of what he jil&dj^catedl :C,Quld ! have^done so. The llaw, allowed that. There , were occasions recognised as privileged, but'l^e'ha : d,(dii v ect'e'd : as a matter of law^atLndfchirjgiiMr Baker had suggested he :1 could; have proved would ha\e established a privileged occbfUra ,»q fl-here. was ; n6 doubt -that it was .defamatory ma+ter. "It was not ..contended, that it was not defimaitoryJ There 'was no excuse before' them, and therefore their duty wa& ,jjq fimj 'the, byispner guilty. They would he doing a great wrong to ■ooiej^r/if ( they went jipito the, matter themaelseft , fend, fqund, ,the prisoner not^guilty against the. ruling of the JudgfcHpon the: law. - ...

The'fury retired to consider their yerdidf at 12;49 ' p.mV and returned at 1.1 with a verdict, Qjf guilty. mitigation d :^n£ence,/but as His HonoijridjLQlarejd the. /practice to be by filing a|Bdayi^s, the prisoner was remanfle&orirhis own bail, till the next fflorb^;'

On Wednesday E. A. Haggen, proprietor o£ the' Examiner, Woodville, was*fibed £50 and two months' imprisonment, also until the fine is paid, ana to give security to keep the peacej^r <ons year, himself in £100, and onejSeeurity of £50.