MASSEY LIBEL ACTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 956, 18 February 1911, Page 3

MASSEY LIBEL ACTION.

NOTICE OF APPEAL. Messrs Bell, Gully, Bell and Myers, solicitors for Mr W. F. Massey, M.P., yesterday filed notice of appeal against the decision of the court in the action for libel brought by Mr Massey against the New Zealand Times Co., Ltd., in which a verdict for defendants was entered in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, on the following grounds : (1) That the special verdict or finding of the jury is so defective that judgment cannot be entered upon it.

(2) That the learned judge misdirected the jury in the following matters:—

(a) By directing them that they might disregard the evidence of the witnesses as to the interpretation by such witnesses of the cartoon and words which form the libel. (b) By directing them that, even if they found that the plaintiff was represented by the figure hitching the wagou, they might find that the cartoon and words were a mere political skit, and therefore did not attribute personal misconduct to the plaintiff. (c) By directing them that their special finding was a verdict for the defendant company, and that they, upon such special finding, should give their verdict for the defendant company. (3) That the verdict is against the weight of evidence.

(4) That the finding of the jury is not a verdict for the defendant company.

(5) That the learned judge admitted improper evidence, to which the plaintiff objected distinctly at the trial, namely, evidence of the memory of witnesses of reports of what was said by members of Parliament in a debate in the House of Representatives on November 30th, 1910, and in a debate in the Legislative Council on December Ist, 1910.

The motion for leave of appeal is set down tor Tuesday, sxst inst.