A CAUTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13774, 10 December 1908, Page 5

A CAUTION.

Trie case heard and decided in th.» District Court yestenlay, in which a member of a local body wa* sued t«nr damages for slander, should 1»* taken as a warning by members of such bodies. In this case- the. complainant coTild not establish his case io the satisfaction of the jury; hut it is possible that another jury would have crone to a different conclusion. The defendant** remark at a meeting of the Council of which he was a member, and in connection with a piece of business -between Ehat body and the plaintiff, that the latter would -have it* if he can.'* was* probably uttered quite carelessly, without a thought '»t tlee meaning that wonfd be attached to tho,remark if his fellow members -.-wir it Stfriwtsly: and probably with no l itention that they should, and no s*~picinn that they could take it seriously Nevertheless, remark* of that nature ought not to be made-, carelessly or otherwise, hy a member of a local Ikhlv, concerning any one. person* who are chosen to transact !T«e" public haziness at: [their feftW citizens ought to feel too much respect lor their office, to as*> words or phrases that may be taken t*v he reflections on other people's characters.