Action for Damages.

Manawatu Herald, 11 December 1902, Page 2

Action for Damages.

An action brought at Sydney by Mr Griffiths, member for Waratah, and secretary of the Parliamentary Labour party, against the “ Newcastle Morning Herald,” claiming £IOOO damages for libel, resulted in a rerdiet for the defendant newspaper.

The alleged libel was contained in extracts from speeches by opponents of Mr Griffiths, delivered during the election campaign—wherein the plaintiff was accused of pro-Boerism, disloyalty and sedition and denounced as a traitor—and the Herald’s comments thereon, Mr Justice Bring, in summing up, said the case involved a question affecting not only Australia, but the whole of the British Empire. He dealt severely with Mr Griffiths’s pro-Boer utterances, and his connection with the Anti-war League. A member of Parliament, • said the Judge, should be frne from the faintest suspicion of disloyalty to his soveringn. Commenting on the verdict, the Judge declared that he unhesitatingly concurred with the finding of the jury. He could not understand how any any man, after making such speeches in public could expect any other verdict. An application to stay proceedings, on the ground that certain passages of the alleged libel did not come within the category of fair comment, was refused.