defendant, who is said to be almost totally without funds. The jury had nothing to do with the man's position. They found he had grossly and scan dalously libelled Mr Massey . They were directed by the Judge if they found for plaintiff to give substantial damages. To the ordinary intelligence such a direction should be needless. It is not at all surprising that the Dunedin local, press are becoming exercised on the subject of juries and their verdicts. Referring to the Massey v. Allan case, the Otago Daily Times makes the following observations :— " A jury should be guided by the evidence and the ruling of the Judge, and these alone. It is not their business to go outside the Court and act upon any knowledge they may have foreign to the case in hand. These eccentric decisions are gradually undermining the public confidence in trial by jury, alto gether. It seems that colonial juries even when composed of reasonably in telligent men, will persist in taking the bit in their teeth. They want to be judges, and even legislators, as well as jurymen. Not content with keeping within the plain lines of the evidence and being guided by the direction of the Judge, they take a view of their own of what is required by the justice of the case, or even what is expedient, and so indulge in logical absurdities like the decision under review. We hope the verdict may be accepted by the City Council as sufficient to entitle Mr Massey to re-instatment in hia old position as Town Clerk, which is all the satisfaction he can now obtain ; but by many the smallness of the damages awarded will be regarded as an expres sion of doubt whether his relations with Allan were such as to entitle him to public sympathy — albeit on the facts the jury felt bound to give him a verdict. If the issues are correctly answered by the jury, however, there can be no question that Mr Massey is a victim to one of the most malicious plots that has ever been hatched to destroy a man's reputation, for purposes of revenge."

INCREASE OF SUICIDE.
