UNIQUE LIBEL ACTION

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1002, 28 September 1912, Page 3

UNIQUE LIBEL ACTION

The Supreme Court at Masterton was occupied ad d" and till 8 o’clock last night wit!.- a ca.-.o in widen Tiii.uvliaio l e I an, Bishop ot the Church ot the Seventh Rule <M Jehovah —a Maori denomination —olaunoo x,'s'>i damages from Father Francis De Bach, Catholic missionary among the natives, and well-known locally, having been connected with St. Mary’s Church for some years, lor libel contained in an article published in a Maori newspaper edited and issued by the defendant. The statement of claim set forth that the paper, in February, 1912, which was printed at Pahiatua, and circulated through the Wellington district, contained reference to the services of the plaintiff’s church on Christmas Day at Te Ore Ore, near Masterton, and in connection therewith defendant falsely and maliciously wrote, printed, and published ot and concerning the plaintiff the following words: “But there was one astonishing thing seen at that gathering, which was the fact that some members of the Church of the Seventh Rule wore the garments of Anglican Bishops. It is a lestering disease lor persons of no standing to wear such garments, as there is uo authority by which they might do so ; but it is perhaps from the jealous desire of the heart that they aspire to those positions. But why should they yearn ? Let us stick together. No, the peacock is a peacock, the woodheu a wood hen, although the woodhen snatches the leathers of the peacock as feathers for himself. No, the peacock remains a peacock; the woodhen a woodhen.”

Mr P. E. Hollings, of Masterton, appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Blair, of Wellington, for the defendant. Plaintiff in evidence said that he was attired in garments similar to those of an Anglican bishop, but they were garments which he was entitled to wear as they were those of his Church. He and another bishop of the Church of the Seventh Rule of Jehovah were the only two persons who wore such garments on the day in question.

In the course of cross-examina-tion plaintiff admitted that two years before he was made bishop he had been suspended lor six mouths iu connection with “crouk running” of a racehorse named Rock wood, owned by him.

The defence contended that no malice was meant; that the article was lair comment, and that some of the Maori words did not mean the translation made by plaintiff. The jury, after an absence of hair an hour, brought in a verdict for plaintiff for His Honoui, Sir Robert Stout, entered up judgment- accordingly with costs on the lowest scale.