RUMANIAN LIBELLED.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17979, 26 March 1930, Page 5

RUMANIAN LIBELLED.

appeal withdrawn. PAPER CAUGHT NAPPING. NEWS FROM UNRELIABLE SOURCE. i/nited rress Assn.—Elec. Tel.—Copyright. (Received March 20, '.>.30 a.m.) LONDON, March 25. In connection with the libel action heard in February, in which Mr Barbu .lonesco was awarded £12,000 damages against the Evening Standard, and in which an appeal was lodged, a announcement was made in Court to-day that the Standard would consent to the dismissal of the appeal with costs, and it expressed regret at Ihe annoyance caused M. Jonescu. Similar action against lhe Daily Express has been settled, the defendants paying a sum in compensation and giving an idcmnily for costs. Hol'cnilanls' counsel staled ii was now recognised that the source of the

information which inspired the articles alleging that M. Jonescu was not a Rumanian, but a Pole, was ‘'something worse that merely unreliable.'’

After a hearing of his case that lasted for 13 days in Ihe King's Bench Division a Rumanian, Mr Barbu .lonesco, who was Prince Carol’s host during his stay in England in 1928, was 'awarded £12,000 damages for libel against the Evening Standard. The newspaper had alleged that lbs name originally was not .lonesco, that ho was not really a Rumanian, but a pole, who came to England with the Belgian refugees in wartime. Mr jonesco’s counsel said he was resimcled and prosperous until the allegation, after which people regarded him as an imposter, which resulted in bis bankruptcy. Lengthy- evidence,

much of it taken on commission, was ]u-ou Mi l from Rumania to support I lie declaration that plaintiff’s name had always been JonCsco. He was born in ISSS. A pela of justification was entered for the defence, which alleged I hat his name was Moritz Lieba, and that he was born in 1891. his father being of Polish descent. The costs in the case are. estimated to be £20,000.