MASTERTON SLANDER ACTION

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 70, 22 March 1912, Page 8

MASTERTON SLANDER ACTION

* PLAINTIFF^ GETS *£i&) DAMA&ES*. j J [bt tblhohath— spbqux.,, to rsx pom.; i MASTERTON,- This Day. * The case in which Mrs. E. M. Hum- i * phries claimed £600 damages for slank der from G. W. Kempton was concluded J JbefoTe_his Honour Mr. Justice Edwards * yesterdar. After cpttnsel'for both sides * had acTope&sed Ehe .Jary, bis Honour said t ifc wfe tffe mogC extraordinary case that ; had ever come before him during his « career of sixteen-years^and over on the , 1 Bei&li^ jalid; nearly a quarter of a cen- * tury of arduous practice as a soliitor. * His Honour criticised strongly the con * jrtuefc of the brother , (the defendant) in J seeking to drag the .imputation of his j sister through the mire. Plaintiff had « been driven, to the action, as defendant; ' It haxfc-heeiu "going "from person to person * deliberately repeating the statements. It * Tested -witit- deTendant, to prove beyond i [t easoriable" ddtibiJ that adultery had been * committed ; but had he proved it ? "-After an absence of four hours and KrW<*ty minutes the jury brought in a ;verdict for plaintiff in each of the three jrauses^ of'-actjon; assessing the. damages ' at £*50 in 'each' cause, or £150 in all. The Court allowed twenty-one guineas •Counsels' "fee, and costs according to * scale. - Sir John Findlay, with him Mr. M^inisell,, appeared for the plaintiff, and ' Mr. D. GL Smart, Hawera, and Mr. jkavery, Masterton, for ( defendant.