LIBEL CASE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 264, 4 October 1884, Page 2

LIBEL CASE.

SUPREME COURT WANGANUI.

(Before Hi* Honor Mr Justice Richmond.) liUSSELL V. McKELVIE AND McMjNN ' [continued.] By Mr Shaw : There have been n great number of aggravating allusions to me m the Mauawatu Times. As to the sub-lea'ler published on April 26, which stated that public feeling had been very much exercised, ie was perfectly true. Public feeling was very much exercise:! at the time. It was quite true that a damaging report had been made about Gillespie-. I should still consider the letter written to James to be groundless and false with regard to the charges, which it made. 1 live close to the Square myself, and I should sco if there were any grounds for the statements made as to drunkenness and Sunday trading. Before publishing the second' letter I 'made enquiries as to the truth of the statements, and woul.l not allow it to appear until I was satisfied they were true. Cross examined by Mr Fitzherbert: The letter was brought to my oilicin the usual way, either by post or by messenger.' I wrote out the "copy " which was given 'to the printer. Mr Fitzherbert then asked who was the. writer of the letter. Counsel differed as to whether a journalist could be compelled to divulge the name of a correspondent. Air Shaw was of opinion that the case had recently l»een tried, and the decision given that the answer could not be enforced. ■ His Honor was willing to rule that way if the authority could be found, but failing that he would rule that the question mu4 be answered Mr Shaw being 1 unable to refer to the authority, it being m Wellington, the latter ruling was made. Mr Fitzherbert- continued crossexamining : Ihe letter came into tho oflice some fourteen days before that, and was 'written over the noni cle plume of * The Unknown," and s the paper used was taken from one of the hotels, the Club I think. Enclosed with the letter was a card, with the name of the writer, I did not publish the letter at the time, although I acknowledged receipt of it m the following day's issue. (Extract read.) I, however, made enquiries as to the facts stated, and found by degrees they were correct, as far as my information shewed. I then published some extracts from the letter, making some slight alterations. There were from three ro >-ix letters coming m every day at that time ou.the. same subject, and it is not easy to reinem-. ber the names of the writers. Had J thought the writer w.»s m any degiee responsible I might have kept the card, but I was of opinion that if a journalist is willing to bear the consequences of any matter he may publish, he alone would be responsible. I cannot remember at present who was •■he writer of the letter signed "The Unknown." I have been on the staffs of other newspapers besides those before mentioned. I didn't do what has been stated with regard to taking advantage of Mr Uungan's railway ticket. (Extracts read from articles which appeared m the Standard. ) 1 believe Russell was the man referred to m those articles, I also think he was the man who was hung m effigy. I. had no connection with that affair whatever, nor had I anything to do with the placaid that was fixed upon it. I sent a circular to a few gentlemen whom I proposed to call as witnesses, asking them to keep expenses as low as po*sil>le Mr McKelvie has never made any complaint to me of the way the paper was conducted. He considered the paragraphs trivial m the extreme, and not worth taking notice of ; at th« same time he thought we should leave each other alone m future. I know that -Russell has been watching his opportunity te take action against Mr McKelvie for some time past. This concluded the evideucc for the defence. Mr Jzaid then opened the case for the plaintiff. He would shew them the nature ot the evidence which the defendants had brought forward. The plaintiff had come to that court for a I'e.dress for the .charges that had been made against his character. He would call several witnesses from Palmerston who were personally acquainted with the plaintiff and he thought these gentlemen wonKl effectively prove that his client's social I character was unblemished. John 'iffen Stewart, examined by Mr Izard : 1 am District Engineer of this coast and know the plaintiff, and have dove so for some yeaiv, when he was a resident of Foxton at which place I also lived. We were not very intimate, and did not visit each other's hou.*o«. I found nothing nothing against his moral character, and have no reason to believe that he would be guilty of such things as these paragraphs imply. Cross examined by Mr Shaw : I did not know Mr .Russell at New Plymouth, hut only at Foxtou. John Heibert Hankins then stated : I knew Mr Russell 8 or 10 years ago first m Hokitika, then m Fox.ton and since m Palmerston,.and never heard any thins: about nn " until these alleged lil»els occurred. By Mr Shaw : Mr Russell never told me anything about New Plymouth, [knew he was a member of the Wesley an Church m llokiiika.. He might have done a great many things and still I not hear about thera« Thomas King : T have also known Rnssell for some time and knew nothing against him as regards chastity, previous* to the articles appearing m the Standard. By Mr Shaw : I have not heard rumoni's about him. I did not like his action with regard to the removal of Gillespie, and was one of those who got up a testimonial m favour of Grillespie and was instrumental m collecting a purse of sovereigns for him. We all liked Gillespie and were sorry for his removal. James Lin ton : I knew Russell before he left Foxton. (Witness then gave other testimony similar to previous witnesses.) I did not accuse him of having a rhinoceros skin ; my reference, was to a leopaid's spots, .that we are told cannot be. changed. By Mr Izard : I had objections

a»ain"st him on political grounds. I called him a leopard because he was consistent m his < opposition ia ci-itain .political mutters. John Mowlem, J. P., '»V Mr Fitzherbi'it: (Witness gave similar evidence as to not hai ing knowledge of unehastity m the character of plaiutift). I live two miles from the Square and have seen ctsesof drunkenness on Sunday pretty, often. -— • By Mr Shaw : I knew Mr RumwH when he was m a newspaper office m Wellington. ~-~~*.-m»*~.Jl.. ..... Ernest Larcomb was then called and gave similar testimony. „ Dr Hugh Marriner, (witness gave similar evidence.) - By Mr Shaw : Ido not know.anything about the woman who kept house for plaintiff whilst Mis Russell * was away from home. I know ot no woman called. Nonisy who livetl in\ Amesbury- street. James Grace, railway guard, then; deposed : I have seen cases of dmn6;-» enness m Palmerston on a Sunday." By Mr Shaw : There is not much difference between the time when Gdlespie was m Pulmerston and when he left. lam a Wesleyan and go to church regularly. George Warren Russell was then called :— I was proprietor of tho MauHwatu Times, a/id am also a J.P. I have been married since 1879 and have throe children, I was torn m London and arrived here m 1865 with my parents. 1 was afterwards sent to Poverty Bay as a lay reader. In 1875 1 was removed to New Plymouth and remained there studying and holding the position of second minister at the same tin.c. For 12 months, I was supported by conference. Ministers are regularly removed every three years, but they can be removed eveiy year, 1 wa> removed at the end of the year. ■. 1 was then sent to take charge of the Hokitika district, and remained there for two years, and there' made the acquaintance of Inspector James, I then left Hokibika and came to Wellington where f tesigue'l the church m 1878, and was articled as a law student to the firm of Joyce and Adams, of Dunedin. But circumstances prevented my carrying out niv arrangements and I took instead the position of sub-editor of the Evening Chronicle then iv existence m Wellington. In August of th*« same year Ivand lily brother startedthe Foxton Herald, with which 1 remained till 1882. During that time I was a candidate^ for Parliamentary honors, and like many others was unsuccessful. (Mr Izard: Oh, never mind about that!). The Manawutu Times then became vacant through the death of the owner Mr Dungan. L bought the paper and resided m Palmerston ever since. T met McMinu at different public meetings fiind was friendly with him xin til ;he started the Standard, after which our acquaintance dropped. I considered he treated my friend Mr Dungan m an unfair niiiiiner, and the subsequent commencement of a criminal libel action by McMiun against Dungan completed the severance of -our 'intimacy. A great many articles have appeared m defendant's paper reflecting upon me. Sometimes I replied' but m most cases I treated them with contempt, I was aware that Mr McKelvie was the proprieto- of the paper and complained to him of these articles, on the 17th November 1882. They were paltry attacks against myself, and I. expressed my disapproval of them, and requested him to use his influence to have them stopped I enclosed clippings for him to see. He may forget having received my third letter dated February 23, but at any rate he. came to my office threo days afterwards. Mr McKelvie certaiuly didn't mention having received the letter but simply said he had come about " this business." We had a long conversation and at first he couldn't see what I had to complain of. However, when I had shewn him all the paragraphs he agreed that I had good e:\usu to be grieved. Mr McMinn had given has his reason for these attacks the appearance of an aitiule m my paper called the " Mare's s est." It was m reference, to an advertisement that had come addressed to my paper from the Oroua Downs Station. It was printed, but I afterwards found it was intended for the Standard, and name very strong references appeared iv that paper al'iout it. On finding my mistake I did not -charge for 1 the *dvcriisement. 1 warned Mr -MeKelvie' of the dangerous man lie had to deal with m Mr McMinn and told him he bad been involved m several libel actions. Later on I instructed Messrs Hankins and Baker to threaten legal proceeding- against McKelvie. My place of business was formerly down Main-strreet about five minute* walk from the Square,. 1 changed to ; the Foresters'. Hall, m March 1883, and carried on the paper there till T sold to Mr Smith. The hall of which I am still the lessee, is let out for public purposes, and a printing office was built behind it. I remember the the" Wilmott. Company leasing thp hall. The first time they came they took it for four nights, which was iv May 1883. .1 had never seen them before, they returned aoain a few weeks afterwards. There were eight or nine m the troupe. I am always very particular about lights being put ont at nights, if the Hall were to catch fire the whole of one side of the Square would be burnt. Thei c is a lodge room behind the theatre, where the ; different Friendly Societies hold their meetings, and by . the stage there is a ladies dressing room. I have met Miss Crawford and Mrs Wilkinson, and all the rest of the company. ' I was at supper with the actors and oilier members, of the troupe, but was not invited by any of them " I went into the hotel with two of the nvn jind treated them to a drink. Mr Canoll asked* me to have supper, and Miss Craw, ford was there every time, a« well as several other member* of tho tronpa who were, always present: L never had any private conversation with Mi?s Crawford, and although T have ■> heard her say so, I swear I wan j never alone with her and Miss How-. ard. 1 have heard Miss-Crawford make a lot of statements about the door being .locked and what I did »nd. said, but I positively swear ihat there was i\n event, or occurrence of tfcer sort. I remember one occasion whih Mhs 'Crawford and Mrs Wilkinson ■ were leaving the supper room, when

some of the others were still there, I perfectly remember walking to the front door with these two ladies, and shakinff hands with them, after ■which I went away. That is all that took place, I We absolutely told you all that happened. r-f robe continued.]