The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 247, 16 May 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1868.

The law of libel as at present interpreted in New Zealand, if a recent ruling of the Court of Appeal is to be final, is in very urgent need of amendment, both for the sake of the press and the public. Some time ago the Otago Daily Times was proceeded against for admittedly correct reports of the Provincial Council's proceedings, that disclosed circumstances damaging to some members, and on an appeal the Court of Appeal sustained the verdict, whereby the Times proprietary were at a considerable loss. A more singular case occurred lately, and is reported in the Times, of the 7th inst. The facts were as follows : —A Mr Government school at Alexandra under the Education Board, and for some time discharged the duties of the c office. During that time one of the girls were beaten by him in such a i way as to lead to a summons being i issued against him, and the defendant 1 was fined by the magistrate. There were other matters in connection with ■ the case that do not affect the question of libel so are unnecessary to . repeat. Subsequent to this a memorial from the inhabitants adverse to Mr , Cameron's retention of the position , was presented to the Education Board. One of the provisions of the Act under | which the Board was constituted provided that all their sittings should be public, and as a matter of course reported in the usual course. "When the memorial was received some very strong remarks on Mr Cameron were made by some of the members present and Mr Cameron was heard in reply. A reporter from the Times office

attended, gave the discussion fully and fairly, and it was published next day. There was not any denial whatever of the perfect correctness of the report, but it was alleged that its publication was calculated to injure Mr Cameron's character, and therefore that he was entitled to recover damages which were modestly set down at £ISOO. These were the simple facts in short .-—Mr Cameron was fined at the Magistrate's Court for beating the child, a memorial was presented, his conduct was canvassed, a fair report was published, and a verdict for £250 damages was recovered. If this is freedom of the press we cannot guess what restriction would be, and if this is to be taken as a precedent, there is no safety for a newspaper in New Zealand. "We may say that after the ruling above referred to, the defendants let the case go for assessment only, pleading that the smallest coin of the realm would meet the justice of the case. We extract some of the leading remarks on either side which will, no doubt, be road with interest. Mr Smith, in mitigation, said—" Under the category of communications published, some were termed privileged, notwithstanding the matter might somewhat reflect upon the private characters of individuals. Now it had long been considered that reports of proceedings in Courts of Justice were privileged The Education Board had under its direction the control of the Education System of the Province ; and, consequently, its proceedings were only second to those of a Court of Justice. They were framed on the assumption that some protection would bo given to their publication, as well as to proceedings in a Court of Justice. His

Honor presiding in that Court, in deference to tho decision of the Court of Appeal, felt himself bound to decide tlio plea was not maintainable, although that Court had previously decided it Was maintainable. That judgment was over-ruled in the Court of Appeal, though it was not fully constituted, owing to somo of the judges not being present. But the decision having been reversed, his Honor felt himself bound not to allow that plea to avail, and therefore the question was reduced to one simply of damages. He thought he should not be out of order, and had no wish to convey any disrespect to the Court of Appeal, when he said he differed from the conclusion that Court had arrived at. Lord Cockburn, in an actionbroughtagainst the Loudon Times newspaper, by Mr Wason, for libel, in a report of proceedings in the House of Lords—an action precisely similar in principle to the action before the Court, if the law as laid down in that case was correct —he held that the report was privileged, because it was to the advantage of the public to publish the proceedings, notwithstanding the matter referred to private character. The newspaper did its duty in reporting those proceedings. It was a breach of privilege to publish a report of the proceedings in parliament, but how different was the case before the Court; the newspaper had published the proceedings of a Board constituted by the law of the land, and whose proceedings were required to be open. It was the duty of the papers to publish, but not to comment on the proceedings. Had there been a catching title, the defendants would have been held to be liable for damages. With regard to the report, was it onesided ? By no meaus. Everything that took place—whatever Cameron had to say in his own defence, whether flippantly or not, he was allowed to say. It was published in extenso, with the reply sent to the memorial then under discussion. Did not that negative the idea of malice on the part of the defendants at once ? Everything said in his own defence, was put side by side with what the public had said ?" In reply we give the subjoined extracts from the speech of Mr Barton, who anneared for the plaintiff:—" He dropped all piea 01 special mance m the case. His learned friend was wrong when he attempted to prove that a newspaper should be protected in every way, and he carried the matter beyond all law in the case. If it was the duty of the paper to report proceedings, it was not a duty to report anything manifestly unsupported by evidence before a Court, where alleged improper statements were made. Even statements by counsel could not be made public, unless supported by evidence ; and if a counsel stated a case beyond what the evidence warranted, no newspaper was allowed to report him without being liable to punishment for it If his client was victimised to the general good by an attack upon his character, the jury were bound to give him damages equivalent to it. They could not attack the Education Board, nor the people of the country; and, therefore, they chose to attack the newspaper." Not a bad idea that; a great comfort to newspaper proprietors, and a strong stimulant to the press generally to do their duty fearlessly. If newspaper reports are to be repressed, for with such a law it will be nothing else, the freedom of the press is gone, and words spoken at a public meeting, or by members of a public body in relation to public business or public servants, must not be printed excepting at the hazard of £250 damages. Whether the law of libel requires alteration or not, it needs no Solomon to tell.

A short time ago an optical illusion termed " the Sphinx," was produced in Dunedin, and created no little amusement and wonder. This when shown appears to he a living head severed fromitsjshoulders and placed on a table. There is no cloth or drapery of any description on or about the table—a common four legged one. The head appears to be quite at its ease in its disjointed state, and replies to queries of any kind on their being put by the audience. Thepossessor of this treasure however, a Mr A. S. Wilson, has fallen into the clutches of the Insolvent Court when he gave the following evidence, the latter portion, evidently indicating a decidedly melancholy frame of mind. We quote from the Daily Times. " He said that the Sphinx was an optical illusion, and had cost him a good deal of money. It was a ' living head without a body,' and the secret was valuable. He would write down the secret, and give it to the creditors. The engine belonged to Charles lieid, from whom he rented it. He had given up all his property. He had been rushed into insolvency by the conduct of his partner. He had ono

piece of ground left—a grave in the cemetery." Notwithstanding this implied appeal, the Court decided that tho hearing of tho case should bo adjourned for a fortnight, tho schedule to be amended, and tho Sphinx to bo so ] d with the secret, by auction or otherwise.

The following is from the Otago Daily Times : —" We regret to hear of tho occurrence of a fatal accident to Mr Clements, of the Eeliance Hotel, East Taieri. Mr Clements was in Dunodin on Monday, and on that evening he left for his home, on horseback. Next morning ho was, at an early hour, found lyiug iuaenxible upon the road between his own home and the Kent Hotel; and ho continued insensible until about eleven o'clock, when he died at his own house, to which he had been removed. The presumption is that he received the fatal injuries by being thrown from his horse." We learn by Wellington telegrams that a rifle match took place between 11 Otago and 14 Hutt and Taita volunteers, when the latter won, the Otagans scoring 579 and the Welliugtonians G22. A dinner depended on the result, which the former consequently had to pay for. The Otago representatives have, however, come nobly out of the fray, and with such odds against them can well afford to be vanquished on one occasion.

Amongst other vessels damaged in the late hurricane at the Mauritius was the Craigellachie of Dunedin. This vessel went ashore and became a total wreck.

The deluded Queenslandites are rushing about in all directions, in the hope of compensating for the loss of time and money that they have already endured. Cleveland Bay is one attraction, but no proofs of its richness or that it is better than the other places visited are to hand. A large number of diggers, we hear, are going from Rockhampton to the Cape of Good Hope diggings—distance lending enchantment to the view. Where they will go to next is impossible to guess. From Dunedin we learn that the salmon ova have been successfully placed in the ponds prepared for their reception, and the Dunediniles are jubilant tn pywsr. A nuantitv of ova has been shipped from there to Canterbury by the Auckland ; great care was taken in the transmission, and there is every hope of it arriving safely. The Wellington Evening Post says that considerable uncertainty exists in the minds of sportsmen as to whether they may not shoot pigeons and other birds without a license, and those who wish to be on the safe side deprive themselves of the sport which at this season they have been accustomed to indulge in. The uncertainty arises apparently from the confusion of terms, the Act making a distinction between " game " and " native game." Game includes only imported birds and animals, viz.,pheasants, partridges, grouse, black game, quail, snipe, plover, swans, hares, antelope, deer, wild duck of any species, and such other imported animals or birds as theGrovernor may proclaim. Native game includes the following indigenous birds, viz., wild duck of any species, bittern, pied stilt plover, wild geese, wood pigeon, teal, black stilt plover, curlew, quail, and such other native birds as the Q-overnor may proclaim. Licenses are only required to shoot or sell game ; any one may shoot or sell native game without a licence, but nevertheless, under one or two conditions, which .may thus be briefly stated : —April, May, June, and July are the only months in which native game may either be killed or sold, in these months all Sunday shooting is strictly prohibited. The penalty for infringing these provisions, or trespassing on private property, is a sum not exceeding L2O, one-half of which goes to the informer." In default of payment boys underlo may be whipped, instead of sent to prison. Last night two steamers were off the port, but had not come up the river at the time of going to press. They were supposed to be the Waiparaand John Penn.

The first attempt at sticking up in in the immediate neighborhood of Westport, took place on Wednesday night, but we are happy to say proved abortive. The would be bushranger either was a new hand at the trade, or what is more probable, reckoned without his host on the cowardice of the individual attacked. Ahalf-castenamed Edward Tomlin, who had been driving cattle up to the Caledonian, was returning Jabout 8 o'clock in the evening on horseback, when he mot a man on the track a little this side of Long's, who stopped him and demanded his money or his life. Ned, as he is more familiarly known, demurred to either proposition and struck with the head of his whip at the assailant. The latter was pointing what appeared to be a |

pistol in tho dark, and|Ned's arm in its descent came right on it, when he found it to be a sharp instrument of some kind, as it inflicted a very ugly wound in tho muscles of the arm. He at once put spurs to his horse and,the man at the same time drawing back, escaped. On examination the arm was found to be pierced across and the wound appeared as though inflicted by a new or sharp pick. Information was given to the police about twelve o'clock, and at daylight two officers were despatched in search of the robber. Up to a late hour last night no news had been received, though the police have every expectation of securing their man.