LIBEL CASE DISMISSED.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 45, 24 February 1915, Page 6

LIBEL CASE DISMISSED.

VERDICT FOR THE FEILDINC i STAR. Per Press Association. ; Palmerston North, February 24. The first case heard in the Supreme Court 1 was Barltrop v. Fred Pirani and Pirani and Co., proprietors of the “Feilding Star.” This was a claim for £525 damagesfor alleged libel, arising out of the publication of ,a paragraph in the Star stating that a case was to he heard in the Supreme Court in which plaintiff asked that Barltrop, who is a law clerk, should be ordered to account for various costs alleged to hb received by him during the last five years on behalf of his late employer. Barltrop claimed that tfiis was false and malicious. The defence was that the words used were not defamatory, false, or malicious, but were a fair and accurate summary of the case pendingJp 'a Court, of Jusjtipe,, and in so far, asy they consist of expressions 1 f of opinion' were fair honest comment on,matter of public interest. The jury found that the words were not Defamatory, and, judgment was entered for defendants with costs, In the course of the hearing, Justice Hosking said newspapers might be held responsible for libel for publishing the cause list of Supreme Court cases, and the Court official might also be held responsible for giving them the list. *