The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-31 00:00:00

MR. W HALLEY, M.P., AND HIS EDITOR,

In Vice-Chancellor Stuart's Court on Friday, the case
of " Mill v. G. H. Whalley, M.P., and the Peterborough
Times Newspaper Company" came on for hearing.
It was a motion on behalf of Mr. John Mill, of Peter-
borough, for an injunction against the defendants,
under the following circumstances as alleged by the
plaintiff's bill. The above-named company was registered
in 1865, for the purpose of publishing the Peterborough
Times as an organ of the political and religious
views of a party in Peterborough, of whom
Mr. G. H. Whalley, M.P., is chief. Shares were
taken only by prominent members of that party, Mr.
Whalley being the holder of five shares. The propaga•
tion of certain political and religious opinions, and not
pecuniary profit, was the practical object of the share-
holders. The paper, however, was conducted at a
considerable loss, and at length Mr. Whalley took
it himself. Mr. Whalley having acquired exclusive con-
trol of the newspaper, &c., about April 1868 engaged
the plaintiff as editor. There being a loss of £3 per
week on the newspaper, Mr. Whalley, in July 1868.
entered into a written agreement with the plaintiff for
the sale to him of his interest in the newspaper,
the plant, &c., at the price of £3OO, to be paid
in nine months, the plaintiff undertaking by letter
to advocate in the newspaper Mr. Whalley's interests
in everything appertaining to the representation of
Peterborough. At the last election the political and
religious party in question were greatly dissatisfied with
what they called the worse than useless advocacy of the
views by the Peterborough Times, and on the 9th of June
last no part of the £3OO having been paid by the
plaintiff to Mr. Whalley, some of the defendant's
company, at the request of Mr. Whalley, forcibly turned
the plaintiff out of possession of the newspaper property.
An injunction was, therefore, now asked on his behalf to
restrain the defendants from continuing in possession of
the newspaper premises.
The Vice-Chancellor, after hearing counsel, decided
that the plaintiff was entitled to an injunction on his
undertaking to pay the purchase money on or before the
Ist of September, with interest at 4 per cent., from
the date when the promissory note for the £3OO became
due.

ATETVSPAPER NOME.NCLATURE.

An important decision anent the rights of newspaper
proprietors to the exclusive use of the titles attached to
their journals was given on Frday by Vice-Chancellor
Malins in the case of " Chance v. Sheppard." The plain-
tiff, in the year 1867, became the purchaser of two news-
papers, one called the Bedfordshire Express the other
the Hertfordshire Express, and caused himself to
be registered as the printer, publisher, and proprietor of
the same in accordance with the provisions of the old Act
of William IV. just repealed. The defendant is the
publisher of the Luton Adrel tiser, and on the 9th of July
of the present year it came to the knowledge of the
plaintiff, who resides at Hitchin, that he had issued a
paper in general appearance resembling the .Bedfordshire
Express, and bearing the same name printed in exactly
similar tipe. Upon this a communication was opened up
on the subject between the plaintiff and defendant, and
the latter, apparently convinced that he had infringed the
rights of the former, ordered such of the numbers of the
first issue as were within reach to be cancelled. Taking
second counsel, however, he resumed the pub-
lication, and wrote to the plaintiff to cease
discontinuing publishing the Bedfordshire Express, as he
had himself made the copyright of that title his property.
In a subsequent letter he explained that what he had done
was this : he had searched the register at Stationers' Hall,
and not finding that the paper in question had been regis-
tered there by the plaintiff, he entered the title
in his own name. An injunction was thereupon
moved for, which was argued at great length,
Mr. Cole, Q.C., and Mr. Rigby, who appeared for the
plaintiff, standing not so much upon registration as upon
asor, a vsor which had extended over a period of
about nine years. The title, in fact, was a trade
mark, which no one could infringe without peril. Nume-
rous cases in support of this view were cited. For the
defendant it was argued by Mr. Glasse, Q.C., and Mr.
Higgins that there was no copyright in the title, and that
the plaintiff could not obtain the relief sought, as he had
failed to comply with the provisions of the Act of William
IV., which required that he should not only register him-
self as the proprietor of the paper, but prove that the
persons from whom he had bought it were registered, and
also prove the assignment to himself. It was
further contended by the defendant's counsel that
the plaintiff was not justified in publishing the same
paper—the Hertfordshire Express and the Bedfordshire
Express are virtually the same—merely adding to the title
the name of different counties. The Vice-Chancellor, who
made repeated efforts to get the case settled, suggesting
that the defendant should take some other title for his
paper, the appearance of which, he remarked, was so similar
that when held in the hands of counsel he could not, from
the bench, distinguish the one from the other, made a
decree to the effect that the defendant should not publish,
any newspaper under the name of the Bedfordshire Express
or under any name or style of which the words Bedfordshire
E<•press should form a part. In making this order his
Honour expressed the opinion that the case was as clear
as possible. The plaintiff had duly registered his paper
under the old Act, and the statement of the defendant
that, residing only a few miles off the place of publica-
tion, he had never heard of the Bedfordshire Express, almost
transcended credence. Supposing that was so, when he
found he had taken another man's title, he should have
taken care there was no second issue of the paper. Instead
of that he assumed to have acquired the right to the name
himself, and forbade the plaintiff to use it. This
WAS a course of conduct not only preposterous and absurd,
but hardly consonant with common honesty. There was
a distinct property in the title of a newspaper, which
everyone had a right to have protected. It was a subject
of regret that the practice of the court would not allow
him at that stage to order the defendant to pay costs.

The Postage Stamps of Spain still bear the
likeness of the ex-Queen Isabella.
An eminent German counted the number of
hairs in heads of four different colours: in a blonde one he
found 140,400 hairs; in a brown, 109,440; in a black,
102,962; and in a red one, 88,740.
It is said to be the present intention of their
Excellencies, Lord and Lady Spencer, to leave Holyhead
by the steamer which reaches Kingstown on Friday
morning, the 6th August. They will be attended by the
private secretary and an A.D.C. in waiting.

The late Dr. Waddington has bequeathed the
munificent sum of six thousand pounds to the Durham
County Hospital. Among other legacies left by the Dean
Mr. Hoare, his butler, and Mr. Hartley, his verger, have
received £2,000 each. Those of his domestics who had
been one year and upwards in his service receive three
years' wages each.

The rioters at Dunkeld still continue their
assaults on the toll-gate. They have destroyed a second
bar and erection. They number among their supporters a
Lord of the Sessions. Mr. Robertson, the leader of the
attack, has been summoned to appear before the justices.
The Duke of Athole has also commenced an action against
him.

THE LIMERICK JUNCTION MURDER. —At the
Tipperary Assizes, on Friday, Michael Byrne, a farmer,
was tried for the murder of Edward Tracey, near Lime.
rick Junction, in January last. At the close of the
prosecution Judge George said he considered no case had
been established, and the prisoner was acquitted.
THE PRINCESS OP WALES.—The retirement
offered by the quiet and romantically-situated bath of
Wildbad, in the Black Forest, has been one of the chief
reasons for its selection by the Princess of Wales at the
close of a somewhat prolonged and certainly fatiguing
season. But in addition to this Wildbad has a certain
reputation in joint affections, derived probably from the
temperature rather than the chemical constitution of its
waters; and advantage will be taken of the local means
of treatment in the case of her Royal Highness, who is
still somewhat inconvenienced by the absence of perfect
power of flexion.—Lancet.

ANOTHER IRISH JUDGE ON CRIME IN IRELAND.
In addressing the grand jury at the Tipperary assizes,
Mr. Justice George spoke of the great amount of unde-
tected crime in the county, and deplored the prevalence of
threatening letters. Even in some cases where the
offenders had been traced, there was a reluctance to pro-
secute. The learned judge, however, expressed an earnest
hope that all;well-disposed persons would aid the authori-
ties in the administration of justice.

THE REPRESENTATION OF SALISBURY. Mr.
Edward Hamilton, the senior member for Salis-
bury, has resigned his seat. The hon. gentle-
man, who was first elected for the city at the
general election in July 1865, is a brother of
the Bishop of Salisbury. He is a sound Liberal
in politics, and is described in " Dod" as in
"favour of the reduction of the public expenditure, the
abolition of 'University Tests, and the removal of the
Irish Church; and will vote for the reduction, with
a view to the total abolition, of the income tax." At
the general election last November, Mr. Hamilton stood
second on the poll, the numbers being—Lush (L), 748 ;
Hamilton (L), 679 ; Ryder (C), 623. A petition was pre-
sented against the return of Mr. Hamilton, but it failed
in unseating him. Mr. Alfred Seymour, who represented
Totnes in the Liberal interest from January 1863 till
last November, has issued an address, in which he
states that he will, if elected, cordially support MkGIA4
Wiles —'ice 12.51 i
iilithte..l.lllitiollr_otthe Ballnh