Dairyman Sues for Libel

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 80, 25 June 1927, Page 13

Dairyman Sues for Libel

CONTROL CRISIS SEQUEL ACTION AGAINST “EXPORTER” Press Association. WELLINGTON, Friday. In the Supreme Court, before the Chief Justice, Sir Charles Skerrett, T. M. Timpany, Woodlands, Southland, a member of the Dairy Control Board, proceeded against the "New Zealand Dairy Produce Exporter” Newspaper Company to recover £2,000 damages for alleged libel arising from certain articles in the paper. Sir John Findlay and Mr. J. S. Hanna appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. A. W. Blair and Mr. R. Kennedy for the “Exporter.” The allegations related to reports in connection with the contest between plaintiff and John Fisher on the occasion of the campaign for membership of the Dairy Board in 1926. The article was entitled, “How Southland was Misled.” One of the statements contained the words “deliberately misled”; another was a reference to an allegation that Mr. Timpany nad communicated to the Press the Prime Minister’s telegram to the board, which was of a confidential nature. The defence denies that there was any arrangement whereby the Dairy Board paid the “Exporter” for the publication of certain official matters and pleads that the words complained of were a verbatim extract from the speech by Fisher, and, in so far as the words complained of were expressions of opinion and comment, they were good comment, made in good faith without malice on matters of public interest. It also was stated that the words used, with the exception of ‘‘deliberate” were true in substance and fact. In the course of his address Sir John Findlay referred to a cablegram, saying that it was not addressed to the board, but to the Minister of Agriculture or somebody else. Each member of the board received a copy. Timpany refused a “New Zealand Times” reporter a copy. However, in Invercargill, Mr. Reynolds, Government representative on the board, showed him a copy of the “Times” containing the cablegram. Any idea it was confidential was dispelled and Mr. Timpany gave the representatives of the Invercargill papers his copy. There was nothing to show that the cable was confidential.