The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1874.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 224, 21 November 1874, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1874.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

The Press of this colony has been lately vexatiously harassed with actions for libel, some of them of so frivolous a nature as to have brought contempt on the parties whose over-sen-sitiveness of supposed wrongs has impelled them to appeal to the law for redress. A majority of the plaintiffs in these prosecutions have been “ small men,” as the Americans would call them ; and those best acquainted with the science of social statistics, know that such people form a peculiarly exceptional element in the community. They carry about them the combustibles of self-importance ; they are peripatetic powder magazines, and it is no wonder that they so readily explode as the sparks fly from the anvils of the Fourth Estate, and as readily resort to the troubled waters of litigation to quench the flames they cause themselves. Journalistic strictures upon their conduct, however just and proper, they cannot brook ; they are ever on the alert for occasions to quarrel with the Press; and when anything which they think detrimental to their fair fame appears, they straightway enter up an action for damages, estimating their own value at an absurdly high figure. Government officials, particularly, largely augment this class of libel mongers, who show their patriotism, in sustentation of their dignity, by making the action a criminal one, if they see no chance of obtaining money damages. Like most others who are litigiously inclined they fondly believe that justice is so sure to be on their side, that all doubt as to the verdict is dispelled, while they, unacquainted with the intricacies of the law, are buoyed up with theindefinitely-expressed opinions of their legal advisers. It shows well with the Government, who, doubtless, will not allow their officers to stand the brunt of a legal campaign, against odds, in defence of supposed official rights. Instances of this kind may, indeed, be said to be the rule rather than the exception, as exemplified in some of the decisions given in our Courts of law. And yet libel actions seem to be rather in the ascendancy than on the decline. It is, however, satisfactory to find that the Press of New Zealand, as a body, has not been intimidated by some of the preposterously heavy damages to which it has been subjected. Never, perhaps, has it stood, or been required to stand, its ground so firmly as the uncompromising palladium of liberty—civil, political, and religious—as at the present day. It is faithfully acting out the apothegm of the old Roman sage—Sallust — “Liberty with danger is better than slavery with security.” The liberty of the Press is the power of thepeople, whose appreciation and acknowledgment of its existence are the best evidences of progress and enlightenment. If the Press betrays remissness in the. performance of the important functions with which it is entrusted, the people’s rights are in jeopardy—hence the necessity for its independence being supported by the people. In despotically governed countries where the Press is subject to the caprice of the authorities, and where liberty exists but in name, anarchy often prevails, and as a consequence, the rights of the people are trodden under foot. Were the Press of our own Empire subject to such a servile espionage, and restrained in its sphere of action and usefulness from an ignoble fear of consequences, while iu the prosecution of a manifest duty, a different state of affairs would be the result. It is, therefore, incumbent on every British subject to uphold the freedom of the Press, which, in rare instances—notwithstanding the anathemas now and then hurled against it—exceeds the bounds of legitimate criticism.

We have been led to make these remarks on reading the accounts of some of the libel cases which have recently agitated the Colony. Amongst others we select that one which has recently Occurred in our ownprovince, viz., Fraser v. the proprietors of the Auckland Evening Star, and which, as our readers are aware, has caused some considerable excitemen t. The plaintiff, who is Resident Magistrate, and Warden of the Thames Goldfields, based a criminal prosecution upon a leading article which appeared in the Star censuring him for having made certain observations on the Bench directly levelled against the constable who got up a case against a man who was convicted and sentenced by the plaintiff himself, for specimen stealing. Mr. Fraser gave his opinion in open Court—which was crowded on the occasion- that the stratagem used for the detection of the theft was highly discreditable to the detective who had resorted to it. The editor of the Star took up the cudgels against the Magistrate, and, as an independent journalist should do, strongly expatiated, from his point of view, upon the impropriety of an administrator of justice, publicly rebuking an officer for taking such steps as he might deem necessary for

the detection and repression of a crime but too common on goldfields generally. The editorial comments were, admittedly, of a sledge hammer kind-r--and, to a certain extent, we think the principle at which Mr. Fraser aimed, was a good one—but the writer was, evidently, under the impression that the conduct of the Resident Magistrate was so reprehensible as to justify the utmost poignancy of language in condemning it. At the trial it was clearly proved by the plaintiff himself that the alleged libel could not have proceeded from malice, because he and the defendants—particularly one of them —had been previously on very friendly terms. Here we have a remarkable instance of the utility of an independent, free, outspoken Press, which did not escape the notice of Sir George Arney in his admirable summing up of the case, nor of the jury in their deliberations. To constitute a libel, prima facie malice must be proved; and, although those who have the conduct of the Press are sometimes charged with being actuated by malicious motives, a stern sense of duty, is, asarule, the only light that guides them. Our sympathies and congratulations on with the Star, as, however reprehensible it may be considered to throw tempation in the way of criminals for the purpose of detecting them in the commission of crime, there was no necessity for the possessor of a little over-zeal being publicly cowed and humiliated by a Magistrate from the Bench in open Court. In this case eight of the jury were for acquittal and four for conviction, a fact which may be regarded as tantamount to a vindication of the conduct of the Star, and of the liberty of the Press of New Zealand ; and will, we trust, be the means of restraining the impetuosity of such as have a penchant for taking journalists to task, for no other offence than a desire to promote the best interests of the people.

A kind of stupid dread seems to have taken possession of most of the Natives in this district lately, owing to a report which has been industriously circulated by some of them to the effect that a tribe of wild men—giants in fact—with long ears, have arrived in the Bay, and that some of the Maoris have been attacked and robbed by them. We have made several enquiries, and the natives themselves, from several parts of the district, have been questioned on the matter, and they all give similar versions ; but in no case can we get beyond the solitary man who says he was himself attacked—the others can only testify to what he says he saw. Of course it is idle to look seriously into the face of such absurdity; but it shows how readily the Natives believe in anything savoring of superstition or dreadful circumstance ; and the fact that some of them are armed with meres, or other weapons of defence, show that they at any rate really do believe. Our own solution of the matter is that some few weeks since an individual with superior asinine appendages, left the Bay for a journey on footback for the Wairoa, and not liking that kind of locomotion, took a fancy to the horse a Native was riding, to obtain possession of which he “patu patued” Mr. Native to within a very narrow limit of his mortal existence. The Native is acknowledged to have been drunk at the time ; the man with the long ears was tired, and probably improved the occasion. This circumstance would somewhat endorse the view the Natives take of the matter, namely that “ the tribe only waylay, attack, and rob Maoris who are found drunk.” Some Europeans think that it is the embryo stage of a new Hau Hau superstition, but we think the above solution pretty correct.

Extension. —The time for the receipt of tenders for cutting Surveyors lines on the Okahuatiu Run is extended to Saturday next, the 28th November.

Masonic.—The Turanganui Lodge will hold the usual monthly meeting in the Lodge Chambers on Monday evening next, the 23rd inst., at 8 o’clock. Church Services.—Church services will be held as under to-morrow: —ln the morning the Rev. Mr. Root at Ormond at 11 o’clock, and at St-. Andrew's Church, Gisborne, in the evening at 7 o’clock. The Rev. Mr. Murphy at Matawhero, at 2.30, and in the morning anil evening in the Court House at the usual hours Presentation.—We understand that the members of the Gisborne Rifle Volunteer Corps, intend shortly to present Sergt. Stott, with a sword in acknowledgment of his services as their drill instructor.

Apprehension.—By the police report it will be seen that, a man named Joseph Henley was apprehended on Wednesday night last on suspicion of having participated in the burglary at the Albion Hotel, on Monday night, and remanded for a week.

Measles.—There is great deal of sickness at present prevailing in the Bay, consisting principally of measles, several residents having been attacked rather severely. There are also several suffering from bronchitis, and sore throat, which have given plenty of work to the medical faculty in Gisborne. Although these complaints have assumed an epidemical form, there is no cause for apprehension, as they are nothing more than is usual at t he time of year.