ENDPAPERS

The Writted Word

By LESLIE ADRIAN It is her second experience of a writ for libel during her long career in what we now choose to call consumer protection. Those with com- mensurately long memories will recall that when Which?, the rival to Miss Gundrey's Shopper's Guide, was launched the Jeremiahs predicted its closure after less than a year under a flood of writs to outdo Labouchre's. It did not happen, though very angry noises, familiar to all out- spoken critics, were a constant background to its work.

But when Elizabeth Gundrey received her first writ (from the Good Housekeeping Institute, before it got its militant new director, Freda Cowell, and decided to withdraw its much- criticised seal of approval) it effectively pre- vented her from referring to the GHI, in the Observer where her comments first appeared, or anywhere else. Similarly, the Observer had to maintain silence on the mattet, and even Mem- bers of Parliament kept off the subject for the three years that the action remained sub judice. The outcome was the Institute's withdrawal of the writ and a hefty bill of costs for the Institute to meet.

Another three-year game of patience was played by a Harrogate newspaper with Roger Diplock, director of the Retail Trading-Standards Ass'ociation. It objected to being impugned for accepting advertisements for one-day carpet sales. Mr. Diplock also incurred the wrath of Vitrac Ltd., a company that has now ceased trading, because on a Panorama interview he criticised

their selling methods. Like. the writ issued by John Bloom's company against the Fair Play

programme on Independent Television, the writ against Diplock effectively silenced him for the time being.

One would have thought, all innocent, that an august public body like the Consumer Coun- cil (if it were to be effective) would be relatively free from such restraints on .its expression of opinion based on matters of fact. A threat from Concert Hall Record Club Ltd., majority share- holders in Vitasafe Plan (England) Ltd., to take legal action unless the Council apologised and withdrew a statement referring to complaints about their selling methods has •had the effect of _silencing the Council and, apparently, the ,Minister of State, Board of Trade, Mr. George Darling, who said during the consumer-protection debate in the Commons on March 25 that be- cause of the possibility of a libel action he 'did not want to get involved in discussion about that at this stage.' Another MP, Mr. Geoffrey Rhodes (Labour, Newcastle East), has temporarily with- drawn a question concerning the conduct of the same companies reported to him by constituents 'pending investigations.'

The lengthy procedure involved in a libel action seems to repeat itself with dreadful monotony. Raymond Postgate, after a reference to Babycham in the American magazine Holiday, - has been awaiting the outcome of an action for libel brought by Showerings Ltd. nearly three years ago. Sometimes the plaintiff is leisurely about presenting the statement of claim against the defendant. Imperial, the washing-machine company, have issued a writ against Which?. The solicitor's preliminary letter was received at Buckingham Street on the morning of November 6 last year, and caused the BBC to drop any mention of their machine from Choice on the same evening. The writ itself did not come until a week later.

So jumpy do the organs of public opinion and 'free speech' get about such actions that they are quite likely, as at least one specialist journal did with A Foot in the Door last week, even

ID drop a review referring to a book, any pa of which has been called defamatory and pro ceeded against.

It was clever of Graham Turner to use his Co' Makers material twice. In a little Zenith paper back called simply Cars (Hodder, 5s.) he 10 worked off some of the surplus tape recordia he made.

I wish to pass on one comment arising out 01 his interview with Alec Issigonis. Remarking di the creation of the Mini was an attempt to score) dramatic hit in car design (as well as to bursi the bubble-car bubble) Turner reveals that C1 manufacturers think that 'safety features do no sell cars, and that if they incorporated too maul of them they would simply price themselves 001 of the market.'

He adds: 'At present only the insurance mess, who have their own league of accident-proneness in cars and heavily load the premium of certaill models, put a financial burden on potentialll dangerous designs.' Does this mean that the insurance companies are more aware of the relevance of car design to accidents than the Minister of Transport? Sounds like it.

Urgent news for philatelists from St. Martin;; le-Grand. 'Postage stamps purporting to

been issued by the "Government of HimriYY8 may appear, or may already be appearing on Sist market. Himriyya is not an independent state does it have an independent postal administril tion. It is, in fact, a village in Sharjah, one °F the Trucial States. The Sharjah postal administre: tion does not recognise the Himriyya stamps' which, therefore, have no validity in the postal service.'

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I like the Consumer Council's definition ° shopping as a compromise between what YO, want, what you want to pay, and what is avaw able. The situation with me is usually that I knovi what I want and want to pay, but it isn't .available' The Council's new pamphlet About Shoplg.ng (6d.) is not as ingenuous and obvious as superio,' persons are bound to assume. For one thing It underlines the fact that goods bought from 5!0I (vending) machines are always dearer: the price of convenience. But it harps on that old string about goods bought on credit being dearer' Account customers pay no more than case customers at department stores. So why pay cash

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