LIBEL ACTION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 144421, 8 July 1914, Page 7

LIBEL ACTION.

AGAINST OTAGO DAILY TIMES. PEE PRESS ASSOCIATION. CHRISTCHURCH, July S. Andrew Fairbairn’s claim lor ,£ICO for libel against the Otago Daily Times opened before Mr. Justice Sim to-day. For plaintiff Sir John Findlay and Mr. Wright are appearing, and for defendants Messrs. Al‘Gregor and Stringer. In opening the case Sir John Findlay said that Mr. Kairbuirn first refused to act on the Cost of Living Commission in 1912, but consented wnen ho found his name gazetted. A leading article in the Times headed ’‘Faked Official Documents” implied that the commission had distorted the evidence. The mere fact that tho report was different from tho newspaper’ report was nor sufficient on which to base a charge of rascality. The article was actuated by malice unprecedented in the annals of Dominion journalism and showed that the writer was unfit for his position. Plaintiff’s case was that there was no tampering, but that all the official reports were corrected by the witness. The charge of suppression rested on tho statements about Reckitt’s Blue, alleged to have been made by Cuthbert Bourjer and H T W. Jamieson and not included in the official report. Ettie Rout, tho official reporter, said that Jamieson did not make a statement before tho commission. 1 Jamieson corrected and signed an official report. Dr. James Might, a member of the commission, stated that tho statement regarding blue was not made by Jamieson. No proposals wore made by the commission to tamper with the evidence.