LIBEL AND CONTEMPT OF COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9064, 26 May 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

LIBEL AND CONTEMPT OF COURT.

In tho Queen's Bench Division, a few days ago, before Mr. Justice Manisfcy and Mr. Justice Hawkins, Hitting as a divisional court, the hearing of the application in tho case of Peters v. Bradlaugh was resumed. It was a motion on behalf of Mr. Bradlaugh, M.P., to commit to prison for contempt of court Mr. Alison, the editor of the St. Stephen's Review. The ground of contempt was that the defendant commented in his journal on the case of Peters v. Bradlaugh, which was svJj judice, Mr. IT. D. Greene, Q. C, for the defendant, said he could not attempt to justify Mr. Alison's conduct, but he wished to say that his motive in writing the paragraph was purely political, and that he had no knowledge of either Mr. Peters or Mr. Bradlaugh. Mr. Alison would undertake not to further comment on the case, and threw himself on the mercy of the court. Mr. Justice Manisty, in passing sentence on the defendant Alison, whom he ordered to stand up in front of him, said he had been guilty of a gross contempt of court and a very serious libel on Mr. Bradlaugh. He had attempted to poison the public mind with a view of influencing elections, and he had attempted to interfere and influence Master Manley Smith in the proper administration of justice. The sentence of the court was that the defendant should pay a fine of £20, all the costs of the application, and give an undertaking not to offend again. Mr. Justice Hawkins, in concurring in the judgment, said that this was one of the grossest cases of contempt that he had met with in his experiences, and he doubted whether the penalty inflicted waa adequate punishment tor the offence.