ADDITIONAL COSTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 62, 14 March 1930, Page 5

ADDITIONAL COSTS.

DISCONTINUED LIBEL ACTION. "HERALD" ALLOWED £210. Additional costs amounting to £21 & have been allowed by His Honor Sir Alexander Herdman, to Wilson and Horton, Ltd., proprietors of the ",NZ Herald." on their claim against the Hon. O. F. Nelson, M.L.C., in connection w'fch Mr. Nelson's discontinued action for alleged libel. "That this is a case in which the ordinary costs allowed on a discontinuance should be substantially supplemented I have no doubt whatever," said his Honor in a judgment issued to-day. "The writ was issued on June 25, 1929, and v.he action was discontinued by plaintiff on February 5, 1930. The amount claimed was large, and the litigation presented unusual features. It is quite apparent that the evidence to be given at the trial would have covered a wide fieid, and that for the purpose of supporting pleas of fair comment and justification, and for the purpose of preparing for the cross-examination of plaintiff and his witnesses, it was necessary for defendants to investigate and consider a mass of material. The preparation for the trial of this action necessitated a prodigious a mount of research and involved great expense. Counsel were briefed. Agents in Samoa were employed to collect material. It was necessary to translate documents. Witnesses were interviewed and some were brought to New Zealand. Briefs were in the course of preparation. Conferences weve held, and documents that had been discovered were perused and the literature relating to the recent history of Samoa and to the objects and operations of the organisation known as the Man had to be considered. On both sides the labour which the preparation for this Ipal entailed must have been heavy'."

His Honor made a proviso that the costs allowed on a discontinuance under Table C should not in the aggregate exceed the limit of £300.