TURNBULL V. MACKAY AND GILLIES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 323, 7 May 1875, Page 3

TURNBULL V. MACKAY AND GILLIES.

The following apology in the above case appeared in the leading columns of the ' Bruce Herald': —" Sir, —Understanding from you that you consider the leading article written by me, the undersigned, JohD Lillie Gillies, and published by me, the undersigned, Joseph Mackay, in the ' Bruce Hdrald of 12th June last, imputes to you, in your capacity of a member of the Provincial Executive, corrupt conduct for private gain, we hereby express our regret for having written and published the same; and, whilst apologising for any annoyance the article may have caused you, we beg to assure you that we did not intend to make any such imputation against you, and that we do not believe there was any foundation whatever for the rumors alluded to in the article. —We are, yours, &c., John L. Gillies, Joseph Mackay. To George Turnbull, Esq., Dunedin."

lis. J. L. GILLIES EXPLAINS AWAY iris APOLOGY.

(To the JEditor of the Otago Guardian.)

Sir, —I observe you copy from the 'Bruce Herald' an apology in case, Turnbull v. Mackay and Gillies. Will you also oblige me by inserting enclosed ? —I am, &c.,

John L. Gillies, Dunedin, April 28, 1875.

".Sib, The present editor of the 'Bruce Herald' having denied me the publication of a letter of explanation, with the apology, in the case of Turnbull v. Mackay and Gillies, I have to crave your indulgence to explain that I only signed that apology as part of the award of certain arbitrators to whom the case was submitted. I still maintain that the meaning attached to a sentence by Mr. Turnbull was a strained and unnatural one, and it is worthy to note that the preamble of the apology sta,tes, 'Understanding from you (Mr. Turnbull) that you consider, &c.,' not that the writer, publisher, or even arbitrators took such a meaning out of it,? therefore. the apology was required. I leave the public to judge of the logical deduction. Mr. Turnbull, who is so well known as being careful of the good narne of other people, no doubt .deemed. it imperative or necessary to protect his own name from what ah evil-minded and highly imaginative person, or one possessed of a guilty conscience, might imply from a passing reference to certain rumors, the nature of which: was not given currency to, nor even hinted at either being good or bad in their character. The rumors might have been of the most creditable, honorable, and patriotic a character. Having published the apology, I have to ask you to publish .this explanation. To every word in. the article, excepting in so far as it might be construed as tending to impute ' corrupt conduct for private, gain,' I strictly adhere.—l am, &c.,

" " John L. Gillies. "Dunedin, April 28, 1875." MB. J. li. GILLIES AND THE EDITOS OF THE ' BEUCE HEBALD.' (To the JSditor of the Otago Ghiardian.J Sib, —X do not want to involve you or. myself in the publication of a lengthycorrespondence; I merely ask you to give insertion to a few words of mine, thus to do me justice, and. theii Mr. . Gillies may write as often and so 'long as he may choose—l promise to be silent. I did* not deny publication to a letter from Mr. Gillies. Mr. Gillies and the proprietor, of the ' Bruce Herald,' by signing a deed of arbitration, agreed, as I considered, to a tribunal, which should decide a case between Mr. Turnbull and themselves. That tribunal decided against them; and, in the terms of the decision, an apology (of a most curious, nature, I admit) had to appear twice in the ' Bruce Herald.' Together with a copy of the apology I received a long, railing, and querulous letter (not identical with iliat published by you, except in its disregard of grammatical rules) from Mr. Gillies, which he wished inserted side by side with it. As in the case of the ' Bruce Herald,' of whose reputation I am quite as careful as Mr. Gillies is of' his, I. decided not to insert a word re the apology, Mr. Turnbull, the case, or the original article, until the terms of the award -were fully satisfied, so I declined inserting Mr. Gillies letter until the same period. Nay, more, I wrote a private letter to Mr. Gillies, giving him my opinion on the whole affair, advising him that he and his position would not gain by exhibiting a desire at once to rail at the decision of a tribunal which he appointed conjointly with Messrs. Turnbull and Mackay, and promising Him, as I promise myself to do the paper I have the honor to edit, full justice when the propef time comes, and the award of the tribunal is fulfilled. Mr. Gillies, having written, however, as he has done to you, must now bow to the well-known professional rule which will undoubtedly exclude his letter from the columns of the ' Bruce Herald.' I have no more to say than this: that it appears to me that Mr. Gillies, by his present course, is but giving evidence of that same rashness of temperament and want of proper reason .which made his own editorial career result in the action Turnbull v. Gillies and Mackay; and which, in the case Dawson v. Mackay, let an advertisement appear in the ' Bruce Herald' that no one with any pretensions to a knowledge of journalism would have permitted to appear.—Yours, &c.,

The Editoe ' Bruce Hebald.'

P.S.—I may''say that Mr. Gillies' letter to the ' Bruce Herald ' imputed the basest motives to Mr. Tnrnbull for bringing the action whence all this bother has arisen.