LIBEL LAWS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVII, Issue 12850, 24 June 1902, Page 6

LIBEL LAWS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS.

TO THE EDITOR. . i Sir, —Some time ago I had occasion to make a few comments upon a 'leading article which appeared in your columns on the Evubject of the libel laws. Since j then I have gained a little experience on the subject. In that letter I endeavoured ! to show that the public have so* long j looked to the Press for information and j guidance on all public matters that they! will not willingly let go what they now look upon as a privilege, if hot as an absolute right. It is an extremely difn- ' cult thing for a public man to- get himself fairly represented in the public papers, partly,-perhaps, from fear of the law of libel, the partly from various other reasons. My public address in Cathedral Square last Saturday night was attentively listened to by a very large audience, but' not a single word of it was reported in the papers. I know the reason very well. I have contended before and I will contend again that a public newspaper ought to- be i allowed 1 the widest latitude in giving reports of public meetings so long as such reports are truthful and aire given bona fide, without animus. For years past I have been making a bold stand against injustice and wrong, but have found it very difficult to get a hearing, except in a public address, and, to a limited extent, so as to drop short of the libel laws, in the columns, of the "Times'." The libel laws practically prohibit nay addresses being reported in the papers, and the general public, therefore, lose the benefit of any merit such. addresses may happen to possess. I have not hesitated to speak out plainly, and to use language which cannot be misunderstood, and although! some of the words used by me may be considered libellous by some of the legal fraternity, who claim to know a good deal about such matters, yet ho _ one has ever ventured to attaick me, either in the law courts or in public. My public statem'p.nts are to be found in my- published pain-, phlet, in my petitions, which are filed among the records of' Parliament, in my letters to the Press and inTmy public addresses. I have over and over again challenged all and sundry to prove the untruthfulness of my statements. I have been accused of being a man ,of straw, but not one of my accusers has attempted to prove it. If I ani- successful in my attempt to get into Parliament for the Avon district at the next general election I promise the public that I will bring in a Bill to anrend the. law of libel myself. It is monstrous that a respectable publio ■Journal should be debarred from making honest comments, on public questions. Our

newspapers exist for the public good, and. they are generally conducted with great ability and fairness, and the same privilege ought to- be extended to them which has been so long enjoyed by various other persons of far ■ inferior intelligence than the editors of our public newspapers.—l am, etc., J. S. MYERS.