A CARTOON IN COURT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10765, 13 May 1911, Page 1

A CARTOON IN COURT.

• MASSEY v. THE 'NEW ZEALAND -TIMES..,-. , (Per Press Association.) Wellington, May 12. The motion for a new trial-in' the libel action Massey V. the New Zealand Time's, in which plaintiff claimed £2OOO damages for a libel arising out of a. cartoon, the verdict going! for defendant company, is being heard by the Full Court to-day. Mr Bell, with him Messrs Gray and Fell, appears in support of the motion and Mr Solomon, with him Mr Blair, in opposition. Mr Bell, in opening his case, 'submitted that the Judge's words.were not sufficiently guarded; 'that he did. not sufficiently warn the jury; that if the cartoon was libel, in fact political, he was in exactly the same position as any other person, and that the jury may have been misled by supposing it to be a : political skit. Regarding the. ; admission of evidence of memory,-counsel said he had asked that Hansard shouldbe put in. Mr Justice Chapman: Obviously it should not have been. -You have;been a member of Parliament yourself, and you have seen' speeches you did not recognise as exactly-corresponding; with what had been said. The Chief Justice stated that Mr Bell must contend for either a verdict for plaintiff or no verdict at all, and Mr Bell chose the latter.

Mr Solomon, for the defence, said it was impossible for any reasonable person to come to any other conclusion in view of his Honor's directions that the jury intended not to find for defendant. Mr A. W. Blair submitted that the cartoon was subject to quite other interpretations than that Mr Massey personally distributed the Black pamphlet. The interpretation was not and never had been that Mr Massey personally distributed free copies of the pamphlet. Mr Massey's figure was simply used to tvpify the' Opposition party in the same way as the donkey was used to typify the National Association. Mr Bell having replied, their Honors intimated that they would take time to consider their verdict.