A Piece of Bluff

Northland Age, Volume 28, Issue 2, 9 December 1927, Page 4

A Piece of Bluff

Libel Action Fails Waitorao County Dispute. The publication ot a letter in the King Country Chronicle c; ticking tne methods of the V. aitomo County Council in gen: al, and one of its employees m p articular, ieu to William Abbot Edward Andrew, road surf -s----man, Tangitu, seeking to recover from Arthur Llewellyn F'jx, settler, Tangitu, secretary of .he Tangitu Settlers’ Association, .he sum of £250 damages for alleged libel. The case was heard in he Hamilton Supreme Court recently before Mr Justice Herdman, atm a jury of 12. ilis Honour said ratepayers weLc competent to cri.tcise ihe work ol a iocal body so long as the critisism was fair. Plaintiffs own witmess had asserted mat the criticism ams honest. The Ju ige said ihe case war -ne which should v.t have Uaea brought to Com . There was nothing to iuso.y it. Settlers were entitled to comment on the woikol local bodies »-munis ring their affairs, fbe cement in this ca re did not gc» beyond fair critic’s Fu t m iioym.-m. of the 5.,.i ji . Mi'idor, said His Ktuou., might be f*- .ught with suspicion "nd imepayers had the right to c...icise it, Hi= Honour added that after having listened 1 vb and read the letter cemplai” of he had come to the conclus.cn that there was no rauoL.il cv dance upon wiiich plaintiff could rest nis case. He would, therefore, be non-suited with costs.