PROVOCATIVE VERSE

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 217, 14 September 1936, Page 5

PROVOCATIVE VERSE

LEADS TO LIBEL ACTION

A GOLFING FUSS MADE

JUDGE AWARDS FORTY SHILLINGS

Typewritten verse alleged to have been posted on a golf club wall led to a libel action at Lewes Assizes, England, in July. Mr. Edmund Joseph Byrne, of Down Head, Seaford, a member of Seaford Head Golf Club, brought the action against Mr. Robert Hevvard Deane and his wife, Aletta Felicia Deane, of Carlton Road, Seaford. Mr. Byrne alleged that the libel was contained in a notice which related to the removal of automatic machines from the club, and he asked for an injunction to restrain Mi’, and Mrs. Deane from its publication. The notice, alleged to have been put up on the clubhouse wall, was:—

For many years upon this spot You heard the sound of a merry bell, Those who were rash and those

who were not, Lost and made a spot of cash. But he who gave the game away May byrnn in hell and rue the day.

It was signed “Diddleramus.” It was stated that at the material times Mr. and Mrs. Deane were proprietors and directors of the club. Mr. and Mrs. Deane denied that they wrote or caused to be published or took any part in publishing the words complained of. They also denied that the words referred to Mr. Byrne, of that they bore the meaning alleged, or any defamatory meaning. Mr. John Flowers, K.C., for Mr Byrne, stated that plaintiff was the only member of the club named Byrne. There had been trouble between Mr. Deane and Mr. Byrne, and an unpleasant scene took place on the first tee. Some time after that there were in the clubhouse certain fruit machines known as “Diddlers.”

Someone gave information to the police, who notified the proprietors that unless the machines were _ removed there would be a prosecution.

“Mr. Byrne was certainly not the informer,” continued counsel. The word “burn” was not spelt “Byrne,” but undoubtedly directed against him. Afterwards it was crossed out and “burn” was placed above it.

Counsel added that he did not know who put the notice up, but the persons in charge of the club took no steps to remove it. “Mr. Byrne is not anxious to press the question of damages,” stated Mr. Flowers, “but has come here in order to show in public that he is not a man who does anything of this kind, and has done nothing which makes him worthy of being passed into the everlasting bonfire.” Mrs. Deane, giving evidence, stated that she had been connected with sports clubs for 25 years. She had been a member of the English women’s international golf team. On occasion she ran the English women s championship and had played in a number of international matches. The only time that she saw the notice, the word “burn” was over a word which had been erased. She read it casually and thought nothing of it. She did not take it down because she saw no harm in it. It just seemed a joke.

Mr. Justice Hilbery, sitting without a jury, awarded Mr. Byrne 40s and costs, remarking that he would have the satisfaction of knowing that it had been established that he was not the man who informed the police. Stay of execution was granted.