LIBEL ACTION
MAYOR SUES COUNCILLOR By releifraDti —ercßF Association PAHIATUA, March 11. Reserved decision was delivered by Mr J. L. Stout S.M., in the libel action brought by the Mayor of Pahiatua, James Donald Wilson, against a fellow councillor, Daniel Moriarty, claiming £lOO damages as a result of a letter written by the defendant and published in the “Pahiatua Herald,” in which Wilson alleged an implication of dishonesty by a reference to the “betrayal of the trust of the ratepayers" and an attack on his character by a reference in the writer’s protest against the Mayor’s attitude concerning the halfholiday question in Pahiatua, which was described as being like “casting pearls before swine." Mr Stout held that plaintiff must be non-suited because no proof had been given to the Court that Moriarty actually wrote the letter; further, that the expressions used by the defendant, while being abusive and in bad taste, were not libellous. Costs were allowed.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19370312.2.39
Bibliographic details
Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20674, 12 March 1937, Page 8
Word Count
157LIBEL ACTION Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20674, 12 March 1937, Page 8
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