The libel complained of yvas a commentary on Moor's career as a public man, and the special innuendo relied upon was the declaration that plaintiff yvas "a double-faced, unprincipled schemer." Captain Cole was put in the witness box to prove that in his opinion the publication of the phrase was calculated to injure Moor in public estimation, though he admitted it did not alter witness's opinion of him. A non-suit yvas moved for on the ground that it had not been shown that the plaintiff had been damnified in reputation, professional emoluments, or status in society. The words yvere not actionable per se, and they yvere applied to the plaintiff as a member ofthe Legislature, and not to him as a Solicitor or citizen. Several authorities yvere cited to sustain this vieyv, but Judge A'Beckett declined to non-suit as the layv of libel and slander had been altered. If desired, he should reserve the point, though he did not concur with the line of argument. The defence, on the merits of the case, yvas a contention that the career of a public man ought to be open for remark and possible censure. The libel complained of was a garbled portion of a long article, and could not be fairly understood apart from the context. It was written in a time of excitement, and was a review of certain component parts of the Legislative Council. The Duke of Richmond and Sir Robert Peel had been stigmatised as " dissembling traitors " by the London Times, and an action at layv yvas not even dreamed of. The defendants simply claimed the privilege of commentary upon the acts of public men, and a verdict for the plaintiff would amount to the suppression of free criticism of public functionaries. The question was put by the Court to the jury, not as to yvhether any, or yvhat, injury had been sustained, but whether the inuendo or libel yvas calculated to injure the plaintiff; and the jury after being ocked up for an hour intimated that they could not agree to a verdict. They were ordered to retire until 7 p.m., yvhen one of them, Mr. G. A. Gilbert, assured the Judge he yvas very far from being yvell, and asked to be allowed certain refreshments. The answer was in the affirmative so far as a biscuit and a glass of water yvent, but the Judge most decidedly objected to the jurors dining until they had decided in some way. At 7.20 they re-appeared with an unanimous verdict for the plaintiff, damages one farthing. The result had such a discouraging effect upon Mr. Moor that he forthyvith resigned his seat in the Legislative Council of Neyv South AVales. ONE POLICE OFFICER SHOOTING ANOTHER.—I8TH MARCH, 1851.
AVilliam Hamilton AValshe was placed at the bar upon an indictment containing four counts, viz:— (1) shooting at William A. P. Dana, on 14th January, at Narre Narre Warren, in the district of Dandenong yvith intent to murder ; (2) with intent to maim; (3) maliciously yvounding ; and (4) doing grievous bodily harm. Mr. Stayvell appeared for the prisoner. The parties had been brother officersforsix years in the corps of Native troopers. About 10 p.m., Dana yvas walking near the Police Station, when Walshe rode up in a state of much excitement, and yvhen three or four yards off Dana, discharged a pistol at him. The ball entering Dana's right side under the ribs, passed through his body. A sergeant hearing the report found Dana stretched on his face and hands, and crying out that he yvas shot. AValshe was sitting quietly on horseback looking on, having a pistol in his hand. The sergeant turning to the horseman said, " Mr. AValshe ! you are a coyvardly fellowtodo this;" and AValshe's answer was, " I wish more of them were in it." AValshe then coolly rode off to the stables, put up his horse, and retired to his quarters, where he yvas found by Trooper Tolmie yvith a carbine in his hand and " wishing he had another shot at Dana." Though he presented the piece at the trooper he was disarmed, placed under arrest, and subsequently sent for trial before the Criminal Sessions. Dana remained for days in a condition of much danger. It was elicited that the prisoner, who had not been long married, suspected the other of carrying on a clandestine correspondence with his wife, of which he accused him a few days before; but the next day they became reconciled and shook hands as friends. Even on the very morning of the shooting, Dana had lent AValshe a horse for his wife to ride out with him. The prisoner, it was asserted, had been subject tofitsof irritability and occasional eccentricity, superinduced, it was thought, by injuries received several months previously in a brush between the Native police and a tribe of blacks on the Murray. These infirmities used to be much intensified when he indulged in drink, and he was by no means a teetotaller. The defence yvas simply a plea of insanity, and several medical witnesses supported his theory. One of them, an M . D , yvas himself manifestly in a state, if not of "D.T," at least in
