16 DECEMBER 1905, Page 3

We note with great satisfaction the acquittal of Sir Edward

Russell, the editor of the Liverpool Daily Post, on a charge of having libelled eight members of the Liverpool Licensing Committee in a leading article in his paper. Sir Edward Russell accepted full responsibility for the article com- plained of, which imputed political partisanship to the complainants forming the majority which refused to levy the maximum amount to extinguish licenses, and justified his comments. We congratulate Sir Edward Russell on the verdict. If the liquor trade were to be allowed to muzzle the Press as well as control our Legislature and raid our Treasury by giving a mere trifle in exchange for a monopoly of 210,000,000 a year, our plight would be worse even than it is at present.