ACTION AGAINST NEWSPAPER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13428, 10 July 1914, Page 3

ACTION AGAINST NEWSPAPER.

JUDGE'S SUMMING UP,

(Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH. this day. In the libel action, Fairbairn v. Otago Daily Times, thirteen issues Avere submitted to the jury. Counsels' addresses are proceeding. Ma' McGregor urged that the plaintiff was guilty of impropriety m going on the Commission, and had brought the libel on himself by delaying explanation m answer to letters m the papers. Sir John Findlay said that the editor had admitted that he could not- justify the charges m reading the article, but counsel had repeated the charges m the case. The conduct of the case showed that the motive was bitterness, and he insisted that plaintiff was fighting the i Merchants' Association, not the neAvspaper. He added that the editorial Avas the result of party politics. His Honor Judge Sim, m summing up, said it was clear the editorial charged the Commission with dishonest suppression, and the evidence showed it was not true. The inclusion of Jamieson's supplementary statement Avould have been improper. The presence of Fairbairn on the Commission A\as not improper, even though he had' been attacking the Merchants' Association. -,