SLANDER SEQUEL

Southland Times, Issue 22132, 28 September 1933, Page 8

SLANDER SEQUEL

LEAVE TO APPEAL GRANTED. (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, September 27. The hearing was continued to-day of the application to the Court of Appeal by Reginald Charles Boddie for leave to appeal in forma pauperis from the decision of Mr Justice Ostler, delivered in Wellington on June 27, 1933, wherein he awarded |d damages against James Dickson Sievwright in a claim for £2500 for alleged slander. The application was opposed by the respondent on the grounds that Boddie was worth over £25 exclusive of wearing apparel. Mr Weston, counsel for the appellant, continuing his argument submitted that the appellant should be allowed to appeal as a pauper not only because his liabilities greatly exceeded his assets, but also because he had no income and lived in a state of absolute destitution. The court reserved the question whether the appellant was a pauper, and called upon counsel to show that good grounds for appeal existed. . Mr Weston submitted that Mr Justice Ostler, in assessing damages at the contemptuous sum of ijd, had taken into consideration the evidence of specific acts of dishonesty, which he should have discarded. Mr O’Leary, counsel for the respondent, submitted that the trial judge was correct, both as to the finding of justification and the assessment of damages, and that no reasonable ground for appeal existed. After considering the question the court held that there were reasonable grounds for appeal and that the appellant was a pauper. Leave to appeal in forma pauperis was accordingly granted.