CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6126, 12 March 1898, Page 7

CURRENT TOPICS.

The English newspaper the law Society and the Institute of of libel. Journalists have just succeeded in extracting a promise from the Go vernment to look into the inequalities of the law of libel with a view to having the statute amended. Although the English law affecting the liberty of the Press is on a better footing than that of this country, it is still far from being satisfactory, and English judges have in recent cases shown a strong disposition to discountenance actions claiming damages for technical libel. A few weeks ago, for example, a Birmingham solicitor named Sharpe had his name given in a Birmingham newspaper by accident as the defendant in an action which had really been brought against another person. The accident was explained in due course and apologised for, yet nothing would satisfy the solicitor but an action for damages. The defendant was going to prove to the Court how the clerk had given the reporter the name of the solicitor in mistake for that of his client; but the jury, with whom the judge showed every sympathy, stopped i the case and found against, the claim. The same solicitor sued the Birmingham Daily Post and the Birmingham Daily Mail for libel because his name had appeared in these papers, and he also claimed damages under the conspiracy laws because on other occasions his name had not appeared. These actions were simply laughed out of Court; but it is evident that some reasonable protection is required by newspapers against the cost and trouble of such frivolous proceedings, as well as against actions brought by men who have no means of paying the costs if the Court decides against them. In Melbourne just now an action is pending in which Mr P. M'Caughan— a gentleman well-known in Southland and who has recently been interesting himself in Mr Ward's affairs — sues the Argus for .£SOOO damages as compensation for a humorous description given of him as he appeared in the character of General Lafayette at the Governor's ball in Melbourne. From the reports of the preliminary proceedings in the case, it appears that a writer had declared that Mr M'Caughan Stud nbout eight feet high m his boots And sizeable boots they were. And again — His back was an acre of broadcloth blue, A s smooth as a well-kept lawn ; The ballroom thrembled beneath the tread Of Gineral Pas M'Caughan. The exigencies of rhyme, however, drove the poet to the further statement that he was A inountahl of moving brawn, and this, presumably, proved more than flesh and blood could stand. Mr Justice A'Beckett, following the line taken by English judges, mr.'le light of the alleged libel and pooh-poohed the statement that a gubernatorial ball was not a public occasion, and therefore not open to criticism. In these ci rcuinstances the plaintiff's counsel may well hesitate between resolving to abandon the action or preparing to be content with the proverbial farthing damages. Even in tyrant-ridden German Germany tho Press is winideas of ning a small degree of liberty, freedom owing to the good sense of judges standing between it and a drastic law. During the seven years that have elapsed since the young Emperor took the control of affairs into his own hands, prosecutions for offences against his " consecrated person " • have increased enormously. No fewer than 4407 persons have suffered imprisonment for the offence of Use majesti during these seven years, and the average term of incarceration has been 175 days. During five years for which figures are available, the German people suffered in the aggregate 1239 years of imprisonment as the price of th* very limited amount of . freedom speech which exists in the Empire Not all these cases were newspaper offences.: In 5 per cent of them, for instance the prosecutions wore the result of heedless words spoken by youths, the condemned persons including seven children under fifteen years of age. ,. A recent Press

prosecution — that of the Kladderadatsch — shows on what trivial grounds such proceedings are instituted. The Emperor had indiscreetls-said that a man who was not a good Christian could not be a good Prussian soldier. The Kladderadatsch reminded him in "picture writing" that Frederick the Great was generally considered a soldier of some mark. Dr Trojan, the editor, was prosecuted, and he made such a capital defence that the Court let him down with the lightest penalty of two months in a fortress. His speech was a greater masterpiece of humour than, the cartoon itself. The devil and his associates, he explained, were not smiling at the Emperor's words, but only at tliG words of the bigots whp professed to explain their meaning. He was, at the same time, able to give the mostpositive assurances that the knot in thedevil's tail was not meant for his Majesty Dr Trojan, however, admitted that the article and the cartoon were also meant to criticise the Emperor's words that no man not an honest Christian could be an honest Prussian soldier. The criticism, he maintained, had not exceeded the proper limits. The confiscation of the paper and the indictment of the chief editor had caused great head-shakings in the widest circles, and he had received numerous letters from men of science, officials, judges, and even public prosecutors. It was, he said, an unlucky idea to proceed against a comic paper, and he reminded the Court that Frederick the Great made himself popular by never interfering With criticism on himself, •while the Emperors Honorias and Arcadius even issued an edict that no punishment should follow insults aimed at them. The editor's witty defence, though it did not altogether save him from punishment, has doubtless done much to bring this class of prosecution into ridicule. As in France and America the the practice of wiping out "sitting insults by personal avenging editor." has led to "the fighting editor" becoming a recognised institution, the state of the law in Germany has evolved " the sitting editor." His business is to go to prison for the sins of the paper, instead of the editor. He does not know what he is put in prison for. As soon as the Government has discovered it has been insulted by any issue, the responsible editor is summoned from the public-house and tried, appearing subsequently to "do time." In this way the editorial staffs are kept unimpaired. In Japan the man of straw, or prison editor, is better known as the " dummy." - There is a good demand. Not long ago nine Tokio papers were fined and the " editors " went to gaol in a wholesale way on very slight grounds. Considering the enormous competition among the dailies, the expense must be a strain on their resources. The Russian equivalent for the "dummy" is "responsible editor." His calling is, however, in a depressed state at present. The uncompromising section of the Press has emigrated, and the rest, flabbier than ever, leads a non-committal, vegetable sort of existence. A few weeks ago, the " dummy " editor of the Novoe Vrcmya " did time " for four months, for a libel in the paper, and considered himself ill-used. He made, indeed, a formal remonstrance about the management of the paper, though he liad been drawing liis income of _§2GO for years without any call on his professional services. If the Press throughout the Queen's dominions is to maintain its high character and influence for good it must be kept free from all harassing restrictions. To that end it is pleasing to find judges displaying a tendency to a liberal, interpretation of the law ; but it would be much more satisfactory to have the law amended so that honest journalism might be protected against the attacks of the wily blackmailer, the speculative lawyer and the litigious " crank." It is to be hoped, therefore, that the promise just made by Lord Halsbury will be carried out in England and that reform of the law in these colonies will follow Jl