The Hugh Shortland Case.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

We have pleasure in acknowledging the kind things said of us by brother editors in connection with this case, and our readers will excuse us for republiehing extracts from the comments of contemporaries. Says the Opotiki Herald : — The Observer libel case ia now one of those events which are numbered with the past, and we have much pleasure in congratulating 1 Messrs. Kelly and Baulf, the spirited proprietors, on the result of the trial. The law of libel is not clearly denned, and any action brought against newspaper proprietors is in the first place ruinously expensive to defend, and no matter how honest, patriotic, and chivalrous the feelings which prompted the article causing the action, and, however innocent of malice the writer may be, yet the result is problematical. In this instance right has prevailed. To the spirited defence of a young and innocent girl against the machinations of an educated scoundrel, whose position gave him more than ordinary power to do evil, must be attributed this action, as it was in this cause that the writings supposed to be libellous were penned. Bravo Kelly ! Bravo Baulf ! Bravo Observer ! May your pen be ever ready to espouse ' the cause that lacks assistance or the wrong that needs resistance ' with the same happy result. Shortland, the plaintiff in the action, has received two years in Mount Eden Gaol for libelling an innocent girl, while Messrs. Kelly and Baulf, defendants in the charge of libel brought by Shortland, were dismissed with honour, as men who had done a public good. Thanks, brother Bates. You write with feeling, for you were lately in like trouble yourself, in a matter affecting the public welfare. We next quote from the Thames Star — the following being the closing portion of its Auckland correspondent's remarks on the trial of Shortland : — There is no one who comes out of this discreditable -affair with such high honours as the libelled girl and Mr J. L. Kelly, the editor of the Observer— the former for having the moral courage to Ci-me forward and show how vile and slanderous were the statements made by Shortland regarding her stainless character, and the latter (Mr Kelly) for the fearless manner in which he espoused the young woman's cause, and, even at the risk of imprisonment, laid before the publ c the true facts of the case and the infamous character of her defamer. Mr Kelly to-day receiyed numerous congratulations on such a successful termination of the no *v famous Observer libel cases, which have ended in the acquittal of himself and partner (Mr Baulf) and the giving of two years to Shortland in Mount Eden for repentance. The Marton Mercury has the following bit of racy comment and sound advice : — A pretty specimen of the genus blackguard — down" right, unmitigated blackguard— is Hugh Shortland* solicitor, late of Auckland, but now a tenant of one of Her Majesty's gaols, ' gone up ' into durance vile for two years. An unsavoury case, the Shortiand case, but one which shows to what depths of depravity an educated man can lower himself. Foiled in his attempt fco ruin a young lady, this fellow must seek to vilify her character by a series of anonymous letters widely distributed and ,

couched in language to which the vilest garbage of old Holywell-street were purity itself. The girl, poor lassie, had the courage to submit herself to the same proof of her virtue as had Miss Houston in the Hall case, and Shortland' s vile slanders were proved to be such. Auckland is well rid of a pestilential scoundrel, who, as Judge Connolly justly said, richly deserved the lash, but the main credit of bringing him to book lays with the Auckland Observer, which for months openly called him a ' peßt,' and demanded that he should be prosecuted. How is it that the exposing of such a rascal was left to a public journal, instead of being undertaken by the police, is a mystery which can only be accounted for by the fact that the * bobbies ' have to follow the dictates of local Smellfunguses and spy out wicked publicans who may be so heinously criminal as to sell a glass of beer after ten o'clock, or bring ridiculous charges under that triumph of michievous interference, the Police Offences Act. I said the Observer deserves credit. It does, and all journalists will congratulate Mr J. L. Kelly, its essentially ' live ' editor, upon the way he has exposed this Shortland scoundrel, at great risk to himself. Personally, I do not care for what is popularly known as ' society journalism,' but in a big centre of population an outspoken journal like the Observes is a great power for good, a terror to social ill-doers. If the Observer would only abolish its stupid, vulgar country correspondence, and stick to legitimate satirical journalism, it would, I believe, have an excellent future before it. Make a mem. of this, friend Kelly." Meanwhile accept my good wishes and hearty congratulations. Thank you heartily, Brother Wilson, for all your kind words. As usual, the advice is the bit that is hard to swallow. We wish you could change places with us for a month, when you would have an idea of the difficulties of the position. You would then be in a position to judge not only of the stupid stuff inserted to please our country cousins, but of the heaps of worse rubbish that go every week to the w.p.b. The N.Z. Herald^ although making no remark on the Obsebvee's action in the matter, had the following very sensible comments on the Shortland trial : — We have no doubt that very many think that it reflects somewhat on the spirit of the men of this community that a foul creature like Hugh Shortland should be allowed to go about for years past. The evil such a man has it in his power to do is incalculable. He may render many homes miserable, and may ruin young girls by spreading slanders about them. For many wrongs the law gives prompt and ample redress, but for such wrongs as these it is almost impossible to bring the law to bear. Lynching 1 is perhaps the fittest punishment in such cases, and if Hugh Shortland had been thrashed within an inch of hia life no Auckland jury would have punished those who did it had they been put on their trial. To invoke the law, however, in such cases, is a matter involving much deep concern and much suffering on the part of those who take action. The young lady who has had the misfortune to be the prosecutrix in the present case has shown great courage in taking the steps she has done to vindicate herself, and she deserves, and will no doubif receive, the sympathy of the public. The remarks made . on this point by His Honor in passing sentence upon Shortland were thoughtful, considerate and just. The prosecutrix was undoubtedly right in ddiDg what she has done ; she has completely set right her own reputation, bullied by being connected with a man known to be vicious, unprincipled, and demoralised, and has rid the community of him, we hope forever.