The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, AND Saturday Morning. Thursday, May 1, 1890. STIFLING THE “STANDARD.”

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 448, 1 May 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, AND Saturday Morning.

Thursday, May 1, 1890. STIFLING THE “STANDARD.”

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

Those who were in Court on Tuesday morning, and who had witnessed the previous day’s experience, must have been somewhat astonished at the change in the Court and all about it which had taken place in twenty-four hours. On Monday Mr W. L. Rees was too ill to appear, and we were forced to rely at the last moment on the advocacy of his son Mr Lincoln Rees. Mr Rees, senior, had however gone into the matter very carefully, and had instructed his son fully on how the case was to be conducted. We felt, and still feel, little doubt as to the eventual result of the case, because we believe we have the law on our side. We do not intend to cavil at Mr Booth’s decision in the first case ; he judged according to his lights, and we cannot blame him if that judgment does not appear altogether in accordance with law. We must, however, complain of his scant courtesy to our advocate, whose greatest misfortune in the eyes of the Bench was evidently the fact that he was not so aged as the counsel on the other side. Mr Booth should remember that it is not always the aged who have the most wisdom, and that legal objections from the mouth of a young lawyer, backed by authorities, are not to be refuted with a smile or a cutting remark. If we did not know Mr Booth so well we might be inclined to think that he had prejudged our case and everything connected with it. . This was especially noticeable in his uncalled for remark about our clever correspondent, who is making a name for himself in journalism, and upon whose sense of what is the best class of news for our readers we can fully rely. On Tuesday, however, all this was changed. Mr W. L. Rees, at risk to his health, had come to town to defend the two remaining cases. He received all the respect that was due to him, and Mr Nolan, who appeared on the other side, was not so successful as on the previous day. Mr Rees proposed that the two cases should be postponed until the appeal in the other case was heard. If there was not someone behind the scenes endeavoring to heap up expenses, what was simpler than to consent to this course ? But all kinds of objections were raised. The second case was slightly different, and it was urged that it would be a stronger case. To anyone with any common sense it must be plain that if the first decision was a good one, there was little need of a stronger case. But counsel was not of the same opinion, and claimed to go on. Our counsel had no objection whatever to this course; it would heap on more expenses to fight two appeals, but if the informant was so desirous he (Mr Rees) was quite willing to go on. It was only when Mr Booth expressed his wish that the appeal should first be decided that counsel for informant adopted a middle course, and put Mr Atack in the box, in order that his evidence might be taken at once, and the case be allowed to rest there. The third case they endeavored to withdraw, but on costs being asked for it was decided to leave it in statu quo, pending the main decision. Now, if this was the prosecution of an Association who wished only to protect its clients, why should it harass us in this way ? One case would be sufficient to try the legal rights, and then if we were beaten we should of course give in. As a matter of fact it does not pay the Association to take proceedings against us. They are under heavy legal costs both in Wellington and Gisborne, and will have still more to pay in Auckland where the appeal will go. We on our side rest our case on legal grounds which, if they succeed, will virtually go to the root of the Association, for if our contention be good it will be unnecessary for any newspaper to join the Association, and if the reverse the Association will have a very small gain/or all this risk and expense, beyond causing us inconvenience.

We are afraid we must look further afield for the motive of the prosecution, and it is significant that Mr Atack has been almost incessantly in company with one or other of the Herald staff since his arrival in Gisborne. We have entered into competition with that paper, and we still hold our own as far as support goes. As to the literary matter our readers are of course the best judge of that. If then we have not been beaten in honest competition, it is not at all likely that we shall allow ourselves to be wiped out of existence by certain other means. The expressions of practical sympathy we have received since these prosecutions were commenced are helpful to us in the fight, and we very heartily thank those who have offered them.

To an ordinary mind the wonder is that the prosecutions were ever undertaken by the Association, where there was so much to be lost and so little to be gained. The points in the case are by no means difficult to understand. Cablegrams received from beyond the Colony are presumed to be protected from republication within a period of 18 hours from their first publication, but, says the Act, every telegram to be protected must be printed with a certain heading, and bear the date and hour of receipt. The correspondent to whom the duty of forwarding cable news is entrusted is our Auckland one. He uses his own discretion, but the cablegrams when printed did not comply with the Act, and he of course had no idea whether they were what are called protected telegrams or not We are advised that such telegrams are not protected, and that we, or anyone else, nave a legal right to republish them. Unfortunately, as is shown by the sequel, it often happens that we publish the news sometimes three or four days before the Herald, and for that, and other reasons we need not state, we are in an unpleasant position. This was the whole case as it stood at first, but now that the law has been teaorted to we have raised a point which may be vital to the Asbo-

ciation itself, and the Association must abide the consequences. The present Association has been successful in supplanting the great Reuter’s Agency, which hasspecial correspondents in all parts of the world, and which we endeavored to support, and if the former is too exacting in its demands we consider that journals like our own are perfectly justified in taking advantage of the law in combatting with a monopoly. The Association has forced us into litigation, and counsel for the prosecution has thrown plenty of mud which a rival has sought to make stick, and there the matter can now rest until the appeal is decided. [Since the above was in type lhe Herald has admitted that it was at the bottom of the prosecution: some of its comments will keep for a future period.]