THE LIBEL ACTION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 112, 13 May 1911, Page 9

THE LIBEL ACTION.

MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL THE BLACK PAMPHLET. COURT RESERVES ITS DECISION. Their Honours the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) and Mr. Ju&tice Chapman were occupied until nearly 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon in hearing the motion, for a new trial iv the Massey-Timas libel action. The Judges decided to defer their decision. Mr. H. D. Bell, K.C., with him Messrs. A. Gray and G. H. Fell, appeared in support of the. motion, and Mr. S. Solomon, K.C., with him Mr. 'A* W. Blair, against.Aftot' The Post went to press yesteis day afternoon Mr. Solomon continued his argument. ' "I put it to the court," he said, "that the Judge said to the jury : 'If you find that this cartoon means what Mr. Massay says it means — a personal reflection on Mr. Massey — your duty will be to find for the plaintiff. If you find, as suggested by Mr. Solomon, that it is. a purely political cartoon, you, ought: not to treat it, as a libel, always bearing in mind the particular way Mr. Massfcy complains of it, that it connects him with the distribution of the pamphlet. l^;' The jury answered this' question, comisel added, in a very intelligent way. The court required no effort to give effect to the verdict of the jury. "If there are conflicting findings;" 1 proceeded Mr. Solomon, "and it is impossible to' discover what the jury really did mean, the position is different, but here, what more can you have, where & simple ruling has been jiven to the. jury wid they followed it precisely ?" The jury, remarked Mr. Solomon, accepted vithoJt any protest his Honour's direction that the verdict was one'for-defend-ant. Counsel said it was absolutely necessary that he should cross-examine witnesses on what they had heard was said in the House of Representatives. It was connected with' their, interpretation of the cartoon. If his Honour told the jury that they need not accept' the evidence of witnesses, he was within the J law. CIRCULATION OF THE PAMPHLET. Mr. Solomon quoted at length th« authorities. For plaintiff to succeed now, he said, his (plaintiff's) interpretation that Mi 1 . Massey was charged '^vith circulating the Ward pamphlet must be, proved, and that there was no other reasonable interpretation of tho , article; Once tho verdict was found for the"&ftfcndant the court could .not intevtoJ* with it except onj such grounds. Mr. Bell : We don't dispute^ that. " Mr. Solomon 1 1 am glad of that." " ~ Mr. -Belh If we were .not ch4Tg<4' with the circulation .of ■ tliat pamphlet we have no right to be hero at a 11 ... W« have -no grievance" of any: kind: except the pamphlet <' Mr. Maesey" would "nob bring .an action if the Times called hiti a liar j lie, would simply laugh. Mr. Solomon: In plain English, the question is : Must the jury find that Mr. Maasey was responsible tot thtf'distritftition of the pamphlet? Then I hive only to reply to the pamphlet^ Mi. Bell: And the hitching of th« wagon to a he. It means that wa hitched our wagon to the Black pamphlet and the lies > it contained. Mr. Solomon said it was open to th« eortrt to hold that the cartoon was a reiteration of the article of Ist December, in which the Times denounced the pamphlet and accepted the Opposition's repudiation of any connection with it with the additiou of Dr. Fiudlay's speech. * ' Proceeding with his, argument, Mr. Solomon said that the pamphlet had' been circulated and the' Opposition used it as part of its stock-in-trade. Mr. Bell: That is not correct. Bach statements ought not to be made. ' I must contradict it; it- is not the fact. Mr. Solomon: 1 did not refer to th« Opposition in the Houso of Parliaman^. I referred to all persons who were con« nected with that party in the country. Mr. Belli Absurd. Tlie Chief • Justice : You ueed not ji> further than to say that the pamphlet was circulated— not by a .friend of fch» Government. Mr. Solomon: The point is that t"h* pamphlet, having been circulated, wac used by members ' of that party (the Opposition). Mr. A. W. Blair, second counsel for the defence, briefly addressed the court. Unless Mr. Bell, he said, could sati*fy their Honours that he was right upon the question of misdirection, this application must fail. MR. BELL IN REPLY. At 4.35 p.m. Mr. Bell rose to reply. "Mr. Solomon suggested that the jury may have found," said Mr. Bell, " that Mr. Massey, standing in the cartoon, vm not engaged ih the circulation or the pamphlet or in the .hitching.'!. . - : Mr. Solomon : Not the hitching. . . Mr. Bell: It is too ridiculous. Th« verdict does not bear that out. DECISION RESERVED. Ac soon as Mr. Bell finished, the Chief Justice said : " The court will take time to consider the matter."