CHARGE OF DEFAMATORY LIBEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12270, 14 May 1903, Page 7

CHARGE OF DEFAMATORY LIBEL.

fIffAEGiS AGAINST RICHARDSON Pz ■' AND BELL.

THE TRIAL BEGUN.

RICHARDSON AND THE JUDGE.

" SCENES" IN COURT.

-ACCUSED LOCKED UP FOR A TIME.

The charges against William Richardson < x d William John Bell of publishing defamatory libels of William John Baker, licensee of the Alexandra Hotel, Chapel- ,-,-- t we ro ou( '° more before Mr. Justice Conolly at tho Supremo Court yesterday, (tor several adjournments in regard to tho witter of the pleas. The Hon. J. A. Tolo appeared j or ie prosecution and tho acjused conducted their own cases. " RICHARDSON AND THE JUDGE.

' On Richardson's case being called, the accused said he wished to say something in wspecHo his plea, in regard to which legal ygument had taken place on the previous

d&y* His Honor said that accused was given his uoftunity to make these remarks on the revioiis day, but he would not prevent him from speaking on the matter again. He was eiving tho accused a great deal of indulgence, but he would rather do that than bu {be other way. } - Accused submitted that his plea had substantially complied with all requirements. His Honor should not stand in the way oi justice bv giving a too rigorous interpretation to the Act. His Honor: Do not tell mo how to disohirge mv duty. Accused: I am not aware that I am going beyond fair commeut. ' Bis Honor: Take care what you do. I Java been far too lenient with you. Accused continued with his address, contending that the Judge was bound to assist him by a liberal interpretation of the clause Inferred to. "Bis Honor: Don't talk to me about my • duties. I will not be lectured by you. 1 know ray duty. Accused: I hope Your Honor does for my sake. Continuing, accused said that owing to poverty he had been unable to retain counsel, tnd he said he did not think that owing to want of evidence he should be placed in a more unfavourable position than a man who, tindw other circumstances, would be acquitted immediately, probably before tho try left the box. He also submitted that tjm indictment was bad. ' His Honor: If it is not good, you should have taken exception to _ it before you pleaded. This is not the time to do it. , Accused: If your contention as to your duties is correct you should have seen it ana told me. His Honor: I am not bound to tell you. Accused: It is Your Honor's duty to do it. His Honor (with great warmth): Don't talk to me, Mr. Richardson, about my duties. Do not attempt to brow-beat me. Accused: And 1 hope Your Honor won't, brow-beat me. I have always behaved as a gentleman. His Honor: I cannot say that, when you attempted to read from a document after I had told you that you should not do so. Very few judges would have allowed you to remain in the Court after that. Accused: Well, if that is the law it is cot justice, and the sooner it is amended the better. A DIVERSION. • Mr. Tole: You can leave the colony if you don't liko it. Accused: It would be a good job for you, perhaps, if I did. His Honor: You must keep to the point. Accused: Mr. Tole says I had better leave the colony. That is the man who conspired to rob me of my electoral rights. He ought to have been here on another charge. How dare he say that I ought to leave the colony ? His Honor: I want no more of that. You must confine yourself to the point. THE QUESTION OF LEGAL ADVICE. Accused having started to read his pleas His Honor said he had already read them and there was no need to read them again. Accused: But I want to impress them upon Your Honor. I would like to know if I have any right of appeal if I allow this contention to go bv the board. His Honor: There is a -right of appeal against any judgment of mine, certainly. But I have not given judgment yet. Accused then submitted that his _ pleas covered the whole indictment. He said that a firm of solicitors whom he had consulted bad been up the best part of the night collecting authorities— (laughter)—and he hoped to be' able to produce them by about eleven o'clock if His Honor would allow him to put in amended nleas. - His Honor: You have told me three or four times that you have been unable to obtain counsel, and now you tell me you have counsel. Which statement is true Accused: Thev are both true. Obtaining advice, in an office is one thing and to get a solicitor to appear here perhaps for a week without fees is another thing. His Honor: You have asked over and over . again for indulgence in the matter of adjournments because you had no counsel, and now you say you have consulted a solicitor. Which statement is' true? Accused: Thev are both true. . His Honor: That cannot be so. When a man makes two contradictory statements Accused: They are not contradictory. I Mid I could get office advice, but that I could not get counsel in the Court. I have had both free and paid advice. _ His Honor: I have nothing to do with any advice outside of tho Court. Go on with • your argument and keep to the point. • Accused: I will get there as soon a3 the , Bojnt is cleared up. Your Honor must see that private advice in a solicitor office, free or otherwise, is different to bringing counsel ' Here. You have no right to say I have con- • tradicted mvself. His Honor requested accused to go cm with his argument.

ANOTHER ALLEGATION OF BIAS. Accused: What I said in the beginning about bias now seems to bo justified. His Honor: You have no right to say that. It is a most insulting remark. • Accused: ft is true. His Honor: "I have endeavoured to conduct the case properly and I have shown no bias, but ii a man is rebellious I must put him down. Accused: You said I contradicted myself, and you would not hear me in reply. I say that is bia3. His Honor: I will not hear you on that point. You behaved in a most insolent manner the other day in attempting to read a document which I said you should not read. I will not refer to another matter, as it was a private insult. Go on. Accused again submitted that his pleas Were good enough to be amended. He said he believed Baker was being driven by someone to go on with this " persecution." He also referred to the reply of Mr. Tole to his pleas as legal trickery. His Honor: You have no risdit to say that. Mr. Tole argued tho matter strictly op the legal points and there was no trickery. Accused said additional pleas would be hrought up about eleven o'clock. His Honor: You have to defend the pleas already in. I have nothing to do with other pleas. The first part of your plea is good, out you have set out no facts. Accused: All these details were not in the original libel, and I submit that I need not Put them in raj plea. I do not wish to fajduly take up the time of the Court. I rftjfrot if, owing to ignorance of the customs of tho Court, I have in any way annoyed Your Honor. I have no wish to do so. So long a3 I feel that I am getting fair treatment I shall comport myself as properly as Wiy other man. This case is a political matter, and I shall demonstrate it when it gets before a jury. I arn naturally more or less exoited under certain circumstances. Accused then proceeded to speak at some further length on the pleas. HIS HONOR'S JUDGMENT ON THE PLEAS. His Honor then delivered his judgment as to the arguments heard on Tuesday regarding toe pleas. He ruled in favour of Mr. 'Pole's contention that the second and third pleas Wei© had, and said he regretted that he could Hot allow an amended plea to bo put in, M all the authorities mado it clear that the judgment must be final. Bell, who was sitting beside Riohardson during the proceedings, said he would leave himself in His Honor's hands in regard to ™ judgment, which applied to his plea also. RICHARDSON PLACED UPON HIS TRIAL. , Baohwdson then asked for a postponement toenable him to bring in a new plea. His Honor said this could not be done * v en with an adjournment. Accused: Then that moans that I go to gaol /OB law an no on equity or righteousness. ' I* 01 glad to know that a jury intervenes between me and Your Honor.

His Honor: That is a most insulting remark. I have treated you, not only with courtesy, but with extreme leniency, and yet you insult me whenever you get a chance. That is very wrong. I regret that I cannot allow the plea to bo amended, but I did not make the law.

Richardson was then formally arrainged on his plea of not guilty, and a jury was empanelled. Accused freely exercised his right to challenge jurors, and exhausted his limit. THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION. Mr. Tolo, in opening the case, said he wished it to be distinctly understood that this was in no sense a public prosecution. It was a private prosecution oh behalf of a privato individual, and the Crown was only brought in becauso the peace of the community and the King's name were involved. The prosecution was instigated privately, and the cost would also be borne by the prosecutor, and there was nothing of a publio or political nature about the case. He appeared, not so much as Crown Prosecutor, as counsel for the prosecutor. Ho would not surround the case with any circumstances of significance or importance, as it was not as though some great politician or person in high authority was concerned. It was simply a case in which a private individual had been libelled by accused. The libel, which had appeared in what was termed by Act of Parliament a newspaper, was one of the worst possible kind. It was competent for the accused to prove, if he could do so, that he did not publish tho libel, or that it was published without his cognisance. The matter was not one ■<j<» public interest, and the accused had no right to plead privilege. The jury had simply to —firstly, whether the matter complained of was a libel, and secondly, whether accused published it. He then called evidence.

Rces Goring Thomas, deputy-registrar of the Supreme Court at Auckland, gave evidence as to the registration by defendant of the paper published by him, and in which the alleged libels subsequently appoared. Carl Francis Walker, clerk in the office of the Hon. J. A. Tole, gave evidenco as to the purchase of copies of papers containing the alleged libels.

MR. BAKER'S EVIDENCE. William John Baker said that he had been the t licensee of the Alexandra Hotel, in Chapel-street, for nearly two years, but he had just left it. His reason for leaving was tho falling off in business during the past few months, tho persecution by neighbours, and the worry and trouble he had had over the correspondence in accused's paper concorning the hotel, as well as the preaching of accused in the street on the same subject. His business had fallen oft' in consequence of the publication of the alleged libel. When his attention was drawn to the publication he went to look for the accused, but did not find him.

Mr. Tole: It was just as well you did not find him then?

Witness: Perhaps it was, seeing that he was an old man. I was very angry at the

.me. Witness said he had gone into another hotel t Avondalo. He had been a licensee of

hotels belonging to Mr. Moss Davis for five years, and he had never been charged with any breach of the Licensing Act, and there had been no complaints against him. '" Accused: Will you state whether you have sold out of the Alexandra Hotel voluntarily or by compulsion. Witness: Both. I was compelled to sell out, owing to the way in which my wife and servants were insulted and abused whenever they went out, by the Bell family. I was not' forced out of the house in any other sense.

Accused: Do you mean to say that you, of your own motion, preferred to leave, the town and go to the rural retreat of Avondale? Was there no compulsion from your brewer? Witness: No.

Accused: You prefer Avondale? Witness: That's where you ought to be. Accused: Well, if it's good enough for me it's good enough for you. \ Witness: Quite so. Accused: Is it not a fact that you were afraid to appear before the City Licensing Committee at the coming sessions, and that yen preferred to go out to Avondale and take your chance before a country committee? Witness: I am not afraid of any committee in New Zealand.

Accused: You say you have left town because of one family. Would you leave Avondale if one family annoyed you there? Witness: I would please myself; I would not ask you. Accused then questioned witness as to whether a man named Brown, who died recently, was not robbed and assaulted in his hotel.

Witness said that Brown was not robbed or assaulted in Ida hotel. He was not even served with liquor in the hotel. It was proved at the inquest that the man did not dio as the result of an assault. Accused: Is it not a fact that the coroner shut out evidence at the inquest? Witness: Ido not know. Put the coroner in the box and ask him. Mr. Tole submitted that this had nothing to do with the case.

Accused: Did not one of the jury wish to add a rider?

His Honor said this matter could not be gone into. The finding of the jury at the inquest, might bo of some importance. Accused said that the matter involved the death of an old age pensioner. His Honor: We have nothing to do with that here.

Accused: Yes we have. His Honor: Will you listen to me. You have to obey me; I have not to obey you. Accused: 1 want to show what a visitor to this beautiful hotel may meet with. Accused having proceeded to ask some irrelevant questions, His Honor remarked that he was riot taking down the answers. In answer to further questions, witness said he had known only one altercation in the hotel during the time he was there. One man struck another and he turned them both out. A SCENE AND A CLIMAX. Accused then asked witness some questions regarding a certain constable. Witness said this constable had never been in his hotel drinking in uniform. Accused: If one of your servants made a statutory declaration that ho has been, would you stick to your statement? Witness: I am on my oath. Accused: That is not worth much. His Honor: Don't insult the witness. Accused: But look at his demeanour, Your Honor. His Honor: His demeanour is better than yours. Accused: Your Honor's perception in the matter is very much to be questioned. His Honor said this was an insulting remark. Accused (turning round to the jury): These are my judges, and Your Honor ought to be directing them non-partisanly. You are a thorough partisan. His Honor: You have said that I am a partisan. Unless you apologise for that remark I will order you to be taken into custody. Accused: I won't apologise. His Honor (to the police): Take him into custody and keep him there until tho rising of the Court. A slight " booing" came from the rear of the Court, but it was quickly suppressed. x\ccused was then taken below for a few minutes, and in the interval His' Honor said that if ho allowed a man to call him a partisan without interference it would be practically admitting that he was so, and that ho was not fit to be on the bench, i Mr. Tolo said the accused was only posing for effect. , After a few minutes accused was allowed to return, and after His Honor had cautioned him as to his future behaviour the case proceeded. CONTINUATION OF EVIDENCE. The witness Baker was asked by accused a large number of further questions regarding the conduct of his house. He said he had let a house near the hotel to certain people, but that when he found mat the character of tho tenants was not good he did his best to get rid of them. Accused also questioned the witness as to tho circumstances of the deaths of the persons referred to in the alleged Hbols. Some of the questions were answered, but His iionor said that many of them had nothing to do with the case, whilst others, ho said, were only asked for the purpose of insulting the witness, and he told the latter not to answer them. The accused maintained his previous attitude, and His Honor, in warning him, said that he had stood more during the lastthree or four days than ho had stood during all the years that he had been on the Bench. Witness stated, in answer to a question by accused, that he had not been forced by Mr. Moss Davis to institute the present proceedings. On the contrary, Mr. Davis had urged him to let them drop.. Accused sross-exammed the witness at very great length, and asked several questions which His Honor said had' nothing to do with the case. . Accused: That may be your opinion, Your Honor, but 1 hope it will not be the jury's. His Honor again referred to the insulting demeanoui of the accused, and said he did not know whether he could stand it much longer. __ , , , Accused: Your Honor neve* had suoh a case before. , ■■ His Honor: I never had such a man before me before. , ■ Accused was asking the witness questions of an offensive character when His Honor reminded him that ho must not insult witnesses. , ~■,,' mi ! Accused said he thought Mi. Tole was there to protect the witness, and that he thought His Honor was there to look after his (accused's) interests

His Honor: I am supposed to look after the public's interests. Accused: And I cm the public's champion in this matter. (Laughter.) His Honor said he did not need anyone to teach him his duty. Accused: And I don't want anybody to teach me my duty. I am not going up to Mount Eden with my mouth shut. Witness said that he did not know what his wife had stated in the Police Court as to the character of a certain woman referred to. Accused: You must have known what your wife swore to in the Court. His Honor: He could not know in law.

Accused: Oh, bother the law I Ido not take any notice of ■ that. His Honor having referred to the " scandalous waste oftime' by the accused, the latter said, If Yfur Honor had 12 months' imprisonment in front of you, you would not talk about waste of time. Your Honor is paid for your time, and I am not." His Honor: I suppose I am paid to be insulted? Accused: Not necessarily. If Your Honor will allow mo to put these questions His Honor said he could not allow anyone to conduct their case as they pleased. Accused said that His Honor could have made tho case very easy by allowing him a fair trial. The courso taken by His Honor made it necessary for him (accused) to defy His Honor all through the case. His Honor: Very well. This is tho most disgraceful scene that I have witnessed in this or any other Court. Accused: That is a matter of opinion. Witness was asked a great many more questions regarding his business and his knowledge of certain persons, whom he referred to by name, as being addicted to drink. His Honor said in regard to several of the questions that they were only asked for the purpose of insulting the witness, and that he would not take them down.

Accused said that he had been advised that is Honor could have allowed him to amend

his plea. His Honor : You have been very badly advised all through. Ido not believe that any respectable firm of solicitors has given you this advice.

Accused: I can give the name of the firm, and I don't think Your Honor would say that they are not respectable. His Honor, addressing the jury, said ho hoped they had a goocf store of patience, and ho pointed out to them that a great many of the matters on whioh the accused was questioning tho witness had nothing to do with the case.

Accused: Your conduct in cutting off my evidence has made this extraordinary conduct on my part necessary. His Honor: I cannot address a few words to the jury without the accused getting up and insulting me again. The. witness was asked further questions regarding a number of persons who had frequented his hotel. He was also questioned in respect to some persons who had died, m m accused alleged, through the effects of drink.

At half-past four p.m. the accused, who had commenced his cross-examination about twelve o'clock, said he had not yet half finished.

His honor asj&ed him to endeavour to he brief, and agaiw reminded him that the greater part of his cross-examination had nothing to do with the jury. At twenty-five minutes to five the Court adjourned until ten o'clock this morning. The. accused asked to be allowed his-liberty until this morning as ho had business to attend to.

His Honor said that now the case was before a jury he could not grant the request, and accused therefore remained in custody.