ALLEGED SLANDER.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 February 1916, Page 5

ALLEGED SLANDER.

ONE THOUSAND POUNDS DAMAGES CLAIMED. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Feb. 24. An interesting lawsuit arising out of the by-election which took place at Taumarunui some months ago, in which Messrs. Jennings and Wilson were candidates, is set down for hearing at the Hamilton sittings of the Supreme Court, Plaintiff is Frederick William Schramm, who is returning officer and registrar of electors for Tauinarunui, and the defendant is the Hon. Dr. Robert MeNab, now Minister for Justice. At the time of the election Dr. McNab was a leading member of the then Opposition parly. Plaintiff claims to recover from' defendant £IOOO damages for alleged slander. He alleges that prior to the election defendant addressed a meeting of electors at Hangatiki, and that on that occasion lie said: —"Mr. Jennings will be returned on Tuesday, unless it is otherwise arranged in the office of the returning officer at Te Kuiti." Plaintiff claims that this language imputed that he was capable of committing a very grave breach of his duty. Defendant in his filed statement of defence denies that he used the words attributed to liim. He says the words actually used were:—"lf we lose we have lost in tile registrar's office," and the context in which he used them was as follows: —He was pointing out to the electors that with one exception there had never been a ease in which an election had been upset when the unseated man had not been re-elected; that since the general election there had been considerable activity in the registrar's office in the way of receiving new applications for enrolment; and that in using the words he was referring to this activity and not designing to impute impropriety to anyone. The interlocutory phase of the case came before Mr. Justice Cooper in Chambers to-day, when plaintiff obtain'ed leave to administer interrogatories to defendant with a view of elucidating the Vords used by defendant on the platform, -