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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 2

[trade dispatches]

An accountant named Richards, of St. Kilda, has begun an action for £5000 for libel against the Melbourne Herald, for publishing extracts from a speech by Sir Henry Parkes and others in Parliament, reflecting on Richards' management of a certain company in Sydney.

The libel action G. B. Dibbs v. Sydney Daily Telegraph, in which £10,000 damages were claimed, concluded on the 6th inst., after occupying ten days. The alleged libel was contained in a leading article published on 10th December last, commenting on plaintiff's financial statement, and charging him with criminally manipulating the public accounts. The jury had great difficulty in agreeing, and were locked up all night. Ultimately a verdict was given for plaintiff— damages, £100, and costs. The verdict looks very like a compromise. If the charges were true, the verdict should have been for defendants; if false, the damages awarded were exceedingly moderate, though the costs would be heavy. In less than a week, the proprietors were served with a writ for another £10,000 by the same plaintiff, the alleged libel being contained in a leading article commenting on the former case.