SHORT DELIVERED CARGO

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 37, 7 November 1917, Page 9

SHORT DELIVERED CARGO

liability of shipowners

\esterday morning reserved judgment jyas delivered by ith. W. y. K,Udell, b.iU., IU the ease -ill which the flow-/ii-aluml Consolidated Dental Co. Ltd. pioceeded against the American and Ausiralian steamship 1/ine io recover the sum' ot '<£31 is. Bd. in respect of da iloaeii prophylactic brushes, alleged .to have been pillaged from a case consignu\ i>,lnv urlt t(J Wellington to the pliiihtilt company. According to tho bill ot lading the package was received by tue.ueiciidant company in JJew York in apparent good order and condition. The package reached Wellington during the. iiist week ill November, 11)16, and accordtug to. the-Harbour Board's tally clerk it was dumped and broken. The Magis-/ tiate said he was satisfied from the evidence'that tho breakage of the case and suusequent pillage of its contents did not take place during the discharge ?; t'le cargo at Wellington, or in the Harbour lioard shed. The plaintiff's cartel-removed the case from, tho Harbour .Board's shed and gave a clean receipt tor it to the Harbour Board's official- j.he broken and damaged condition ot the package was discovered n few minutes after it had been delivered at plaintiff e store, and instructions wero given to return to the Harbour Board. Ihe Harbour Board, however, refused to take it into its shed or accept ;i ny responsibility concerning it. The main uelerice relied upon was that the onus was upon the plaintiff to show that the case had been delivered to defendant at l v i.i° ® or^er an( l condition, and that' this onus had not been discharged. Tiie bill of lading was signed I? ? Ft 11 "' an< ' lvas admitted therein that tI)C goods were received at New York in apparent good ordor and condition, and in the absence of other evidence it must be taken that the caso was received on board in the condition mentioned in tho bill of lading. In iho opinion of the Magistrate the breakage took place either before the case was placed on hoard the vessel or after it was placed on boanl, and before it was discharged at Wellington, and held that the weight of evidence showed negligence on the part of the defendant, and therelore gave judgment for the plaintiff company lor the amount claimed, .E3i Is. Bd., and costs totalling I'D. At the hearing, Mr. H. E. Evans appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. A. W. Blair for tho defendant.