AN UNSUCCESSFUL LIBEL SUIT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9124, 4 August 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN UNSUCCESSFUL LIBEL SUIT.

In- the Queen's Bench Division, on June 14, the case of Ward v. Newspaper Publishing Company and another was decided. Mr. John Ward, a theatrical agent, claimed to recover from the printers and publishers of the Star newspaper damages for alleged libel. The defendants admitted publication, denied malice, pleaded a justification, and also privilege. The alleged libel, which appears to have been written by Airs. Mildred Langworthy, was in the form of a letter headed, "Swindles on the Workless," and was published on February '23, and was to the effect that she answered an 'advertisement of the plaintiffs for pupils tor the stage, and he promised her £30 a week, but required a sum of money for advertising expenses. She with great difficulty borrowed £10, and gave it to him. He arranged for a lesson on the stage at the Olympic. On the following day she went, but he was too busy. She was to come next day, and she went, but the theatre was closed. She called at Ward's, and found his door surrounded by angry and frantic dupes of both sexes. She further stated : This was in the year 1884 or 1885. "On /iquiry I ascertained that Ward had hired Jie theatre for one week to enable him to advertise himself as ' manager,' and to this tiay, some three or four years later, he is advertising himself as ' late manager of the Olympic.' How many poor women has he fleeced in that time?" The jury in the end found a verdict for the defendant, and judgment was given accordingly.