THE CASE OF APTED V. KYNNERSLEY.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 421, 5 December 1868, Page 2

THE CASE OF APTED V. KYNNERSLEY.

( To tlie Editor of the Westport Times and Charleston, Argus.) Sir, —The late verdict of the special jury in the ease of Apted v. Kynnersley, tried at Nelson on Friday last, seems to have taken everybody by surprise, not only in Westport, but, if I am rightly informed, in Nelson also. No defence was set up, and the only excuse offered by defendant's counsel in mitigation of damages was provocation ; and the special jury accepted the excuse, and found a verdict in accordance with his wishes. If ever there was a mockery of justice, it was clearly in this instance. No attempt was made to prove that the alleged cause of provocation was untrue. In fact everything was admitted, and yet, in spite of all this, the Nelson special jury returned a verdict to all intents and purposes in favor of the defendant, thereby admitting that a man, because he happens to be a high Grovernment, official maybreak the law in whatever manner he pleases, and afterwards condone the offence, as it were, by assessing the damages at his own estimate. In looking over the jury-list I could not help being struck with the number of personal friends and sympathisers of the defendant, and it may be that, in this instance, sympathy and friendship out-weighed impartiality. By concurring in this verdict, the Superintendent of the Province of Nelson, who was one of the jury, and who, it is well known, was a defender of all the actions of Mr Kynnersley, has more especially not advanced the good opinion of those who trusted in him ; and it would certainly be more to the credit of some one if both he and others had been omitted from the list of jurors. Much, I notice, was said during the trial about " gentlemanly satisfaction," and his Honor Judge Richmond alluded to revolvers and bowie-knives, as being what is called " gentlemanly satisfaction " in Texas and the Western States of America, but he said that such proceedings must not be allowed here. We all know that the editor of a newspaper is placed in a peculiar position, for if he does his duty properly he must not allow friendship or any other consideration to interfere with what he owes to the public. If any person high in power openly offends against any moral or civil law, it is his duty to expose him without any consideration of the consequences, and he has, therefore, a right, if it can be proved that such expose is not the result of malice, to be protected. Justice is all he asks, and justice ought to be rendered to him, for unless this is done, how can it be expected that a Press can be independent and outspoken? The learned counsel for the plaintiff, in his address to the jury, which is said to have been one of the most eloquent and fearless ever heard in Nelson, and which I believe was specially alluded to by the Judge, clearly laid down the distinction between an assault committed by an ordinary person, and one who was entrusted with the administration of the law and in possession of large official powers. He also pointed out that it was the duty of the defendant to set an example and not to outrage public decency. But, notwithstanding everything, this very respectable and intelgent special jury showed its sympathy with rowdyism in high places by returning a verdict in accordance with their sympathies. A feeling

has lately been gaining ground as to the utility of special juries, and the decision in this case will do much towards their abolition. If this is to be the law and the protection to be afforded to gentlemen in the discharge of their duty to the public, it is time that they resorted to other means to protect themselves from the violence of wrong-doers in high places.—l am, Sir, yours, &c, Eight v. Might. Westport, Dec. 4.

An auriferous quartz-reef is said to have been discovered not far from Blenheim. The discoverers are Nixon and party. The reef is said to be 3ft Gin thick, and to be cropping out for 90 feet along the surface. The gold is visible to the naked eye. Interim protection has been granted, and they have gone out again, with materials and provisions. The ground is on the left-hand branch of the Porks, the supposed source of the Wakamarina^gold. The silk robbery at Messrs Eckroyd and Co.'s in Melbourne was amusingly audacious. The burglars carefully selected their plunder from the-stock before them, taking the very best silks, satins, laces, and cambrics they could find, with a few pairs of stays f"or presentation to their female friends. Their labors were rendered pleasant by cigars and newspapers, which they also found on the premises. In a case heard in the Supreme Court, Melbourne, in which damages were sought to be recovered for slander, reference was made to one of the witnesses, a lady who, it was said, " had a child twenty-four hours after marriage." Mr Aspiuwall, afterwards referring to the circumstance, remarked that the young lady, to use the common newspaper phrase, had an " issue extraordinary."