OFFENSIVE HANDBILL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10159, 1 December 1910, Page 5

OFFENSIVE HANDBILL.

ATTACKING SIK JOSEPH WARD. FINE FOR DISTRIBUTION. That he distributed handbills to persons passing along a public street contrary to the Timaru Borough by-laws, Part 3. Section 130, was the charge preferred against one Lupus Black, a young man of foreign appearance, at the Timaru Court on Thursday. Defendant pleaded guiU.y. Sergeant Bowman handed His Worship a copy' of the handbill which referred to a pamphlet on the Prime Minister.

lv.i Day, S.M., said he had seen | the pamphlet—a vexy scurrilous one, | attempting to damage a public man. i He would inflict a fine of i 5. I Defendant: "What! Have I not j the right to say anything? I did not know anything about the by law, and I only gave a few of the handbills out in the street." Ihe Magistrate: "You have pleaded guilty. But if you have anything to fay, say it." "I did not know," said the defendant, "there was such a by-law in existence. I have never met with such a law in any other town in New Zealand, and I have distri buted these handuills in over fifty of them. I tad not distributed more than thirty on the streets when the constable came up to me and told me that it was an ofi'ence against the bylaws. Thereafter I kept to the houses, and delivered the bill to nearly every house in Timaru.'' Bis Worship: In a case of this sort I take into consideration the nature of the handbill, and the nature of the publication. 'lhe fine is and costs 7s. JDeff-ndant: " What is the alternative; I <"an't pay that Eum?" His Worship: "You will know later on."—Herald.