£lOOO DAMAGES

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19606, 19 June 1935, Page 7

£IOOO DAMAGES

SYDNEY LIBEL ACTION. VERDICT FOR AUTHOR. United Press Assn.—Klee. Tel. Copyright. SYDNEY, June 18 The jury in the case in which Clarence Vivian Crockett, journalist and author, claimed £IO,OOO damages from the Bulletin Newspaper Company for alleged libel returned a verdict to-day in favour of plaintiff and awarded him £IOOO damages. A stay of proceedings was granted. Mr W. J. Curtis, K.C., counsel for the defence, commented severely upon the failure of plaintiff lo go into the witness box lo be questioned about some passages in the book, which tie •contended should be burnt because it was pornographic and obscene. Moreover, said counsel, the liberty of the press was seriously at stake, as plaintiff was asking the jury to stop criticism of authors’ works. • Plaintiff’s novel, “.Mezzo Morto,” was trenchantly criticised in the Bulletin on October JO under the heading: “Through Muddle to Half Death.” Plaintiff claimed that he had been held up to public contempt and that his professional reputation had been permanently damaged. The offending article was written for tho Bulletin by Brian Penton, of the Daily Telegraph staff.