Lord Goddard. -

The action out of which this appeal arises was brought by the respondent to recover damages for libel published by the appellants of him in their newspaper the "Barbados Advocate." He complained of two publications, one in the issue of 3rd April 1943, and another in that of 15th April. The action was tried before the Chief Justice of Barbados and a special jury. His Honour held that the publication of 15th April was not defamatory of the respondent and withdrew it from the jury. There is no cross appeal so it is unnecessary to refer to it further. He left the other alleged libel to the jury, who gave a verdict for the respondent with £2296 5s. od. as damages, a curious sum considering that no special damage was alleged, and judgment was entered accordingly. The appellants appeal on the grounds (1) that the words were incapable of a meaning defamatory of the respondent; (2) that inadmissible evidence was received in that all the witnesses for the respondent were asked and stated the meanings they attached to the words; and (3) that the damages were excessive. Before setting out the facts it will be convenient to deal with the second of these grounds.

All the witnesses