STAGPOOLE V. PIRANI & CO

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 18 May 1912, Page 8

STAGPOOLE V. PIRANI & CO

CHANGE OF VENUE GRANTED

Ut TKliKliaAPb -rUhHti ASHOOIATIOa. WELEINGTtjN, May 17. By the decision of tne Supreme Court to-aay, cnange of venue trom Jfalinerston north to Wellington was granted in the case of I'nomas Stagpoole v. I'irani and Co., Limited, and x-iecierick pirani. The application was Heard by Mr Justice Cooper and Mr Justice Chapman, the judgment of the Court being delivered by the latter. Mr A. \V. jJlair appeared tor tne defendants in support of the application, and'Mr Myres ior tne piahmit, to oppose. in granting tne order the t-ourt said, inter alia, that the action was ior alleged liDel published in the i'eilding Star, owned and managed by defendants. The plaintiff was a schoolmaster under the Education Board. The alleged libel was headed "A fraudulent return sent in by Mr Stagpoole." The defendant, Frederick Pirani, had taken a leading part in a lengthy proceeding involving an enquiry into plaintiff's conduct before the Teachers' Court of Appeal in which plaintiff appealed from a decision of the Wanganui Education Board. "We think," said their Honors, "that it is undeniable that the hearing of that appeal caused a great deal of feeling and considerable excitement in a district wide enough to include the town of Palmerston North, where the enquiry was held." Referring to the publication in the Manawatu, Daily Times of certain attidavits, their Honors said: "It is difficult to see why interlocutory proceedings in such an action should interest tne public unless there was already a state of excitement in the district. It seems to us to accentuate the fact that excitement exists, and that prejudice probably exists, and we come to the conclusion that it is undesirable in the interests of justice, and it would not be fair that this case should be tried in Palmerston. This may be unfortunate for the plaintiff, who is not to blame, but it is not in the interests of justice that a trial should take place where such conditions exist." An order was made for the trial at Wellington, with costs £5 os, costs in the action.