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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 1

The Ministerial Defeat

page 47

The Ministerial Defeat.

The Stout-Vogel Government has been defeated on its fiscal proposals. This was not so much on the ground of the obnoxious nature of the proposed tariff— though this had been condemned by every chamber of commerce and nearly every newspaper in the colony—as on the general principle that in the present state of the colony retrenchment instead of increased taxation is the true policy. It is to be regretted that a most important motion in the right direction—the reduction of the number of members of the House of Representatives —was lost, though by a majority of one only. A dissolution has been granted, and the great question now before the country is not so much free trade v. protection, as retrenchment v. increased taxation. The Treasurer's proposals would have imposed an additional burden of £300,000 per annum upon the taxpayers, a very small portion of which would have reached the Treasury.

The Times, which had to some extent lost its ground in late years, has again come to the front with its tremendous attacks on the leaders of the Irish « national » party. Its special and exact information can only have been supplied by undiscovered traitors in the camp. The publication in fac-simile, on the 18th April, of a letter bearing the signature of Mr Parnell, apologising for his public denunciation of the Phœnix Park murders, caused an excitement unparalleled in the history of journalism. Mr Parnell, in the House of Commons, denounced the letter as a forgery. The Times, in reply, challenged him to give them the opportunity, in a court of justice, of substantiating their statements. This challenge he did not accept. Opinions are divided as to the authenticity of the document; but while, on the one hand, it is clear that The Times would not have risked its journalistic reputation on anything short of convincing evidence, on the other hand, Mr Parnell, if the victim of a diabolical conspiracy, could by simply accepting the challenge have effectually silenced his opponents.

An important decision on the subject of libel is recorded as we go to press. The proprietors of the Tuapeka Times were sued by Mr A. Paterson, who claimed £300 damages for libel. The alleged libel was contained in an article headed « An Honest Bankrupt, » in which Mr Paterson's disposal of his assets preparatory to filing his schedule, was made the subject of severe comment. The alleged facts were contained in the bankrupt's own testimony, under examination by the Official Assignee. His Honor Mr Justice Williams, in giving judgment for the defendants, laid down the principle that the sworn testimony of a bankrupt was privileged in the same way as evidence in a court of justice, and it necessarily followed that fair comment on the same was also protected. In the present case, the bankrupt had himself proved the alleged fraud, and the defendants had not exceeded the limits of fair comment.—We hope to be able to find room for his Honor's judgment in full next month.