SLANDER ALLEGED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 66, 19 March 1925, Page 10

SLANDER ALLEGED.

SUIT AGAINST DALMATIAN. ; GIRL'S HONOUR INVOLVED.'" ' 1 (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) £• HAMILTON, thfe day. In a slander action 'before Mr. H. A Young, S.M., yesterday, the plaintiff wai Annie Bradley, of Mangawara, aged 181 years, for whom Mr. E. V. Stace ap. i pc-ared, and who claimed £100 damages for elander from Andrew Matijasevich a Dalmatian, who was represented by' Mr.. G. Tompkins. l\ The plaintiff's case, put by Mr. Stace was that defendant met the girl about 18 months ago, and paid her marked i attention, 'but she refused to become formally engaged to him. Toward the end of 1923 defendant, who was resentful of her refusal to become engaged-for-• nially to him, though she had privately, agreed to 'become his wife, started . spreading untrue stories alleging: im. morality "between plaintiff and another man. It was suggested that thie yr&% dono in order to discourage any other' suitors. Defendant afterwards apolov gised for the statement made, and attempted to resume his acquaintance. The case , was not one to obtain money, said Mr. Stace, but had been brought with a view to vindicating the plain- j ■tiff's honom\ Father Paid £25. Plaintiff gave evidence that defendant" had apologised to her for the • statements and had said that they were only meant as a joke. To counsel, she stated that ehe was privately engaged to Matijasevich, although not formally so. The present proceedings had been com; menced at the instigation of her father. She admitted writing a note (produced) in a most intimate strain to defendant shortly before he had paid a sum of £2d to her father: She had since become reconciled to defendant, and, although they had had several quarrels, these : had <been patched up. Jasi Bradley, brother of the plaintiff, gnve evidence ;of ' defendant having visited their home one evening and hi» having repeated the words that "Mrs. Bradley had gone off her head when h* had told her that Annie was in a certain condition," 'which was the 'basis of the action. I Similar evidence was given by plain- '• tiff's father, who said that he had had several interviews with the defendant about the alleged statements, and after one particularly heated one witnesi* wife had .gone "• completely out of her mind, and had been in hospital ever; since. Witness later interviewed defendant at his camp, where the latter offered him £25 in full settlement of the damage done by the statement. Witness admitted that if the defendant had kept away from the house the " present proceedings would not have ueen taken. Was It a Loan? The defence was a general denial of any slanderous statement, and particularly any publication of such. The sum of £25 alleged to have been paid by the defendant to-plaintiff's'father as damages for slander, it was contended, was made as a loan. Mr. Tompkira said that his client was deeply attached to the plaintiff, and that the cause of the whole trouble was the girl's father, who was shown by the evidence to bo the real plaintiff. It was alleged that Bradley had set out with the deliberate intention of making capital out of his daughter's honour. . Defendant gave an emphatic denial /to the allegation of slander. He was deeply attached to the girl, and she was •thf last person in the world concerning whom he would make any such,statement. They had been made by another man, and witness had merely told the family what he had -heard. He also denied that he. was the cause of plaintiff's mother going cut of her mind. Mrs. Bradley had always favoured him, and had been pleased to see him at the hc&pital. He had heard statements in the district concerning the girl's honour and felt it his duty to tell-her of the fact, 'but she apparently did not appreciate his good intentions. ■•-;.• Two farmers of the district gave evidence as to the high character borne by,: defendant in the district. After the evidence the magietrat* adjourned the case sine die, in order to hear legal arguments of both counsel.