BILLS OF LADING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 57, 30 November 1917, Page 6

BILLS OF LADING

A LONG-STANDING GRIEVANCE.

The grievances of the commercial community in regard to bills of lading were mentioned at yesterday's conference of the Associated Chambers <il Commerce. The executive submitted a report suggesting that any representative from New Zealand to the Imperial Council of Commerce'should he instructed to advocate the promotion of legislation in Great Britain on the lines suggested by the Dominions Royal Commission. Ono object would be the securing of a uniform and reliable bill of lading for the whole Empire. The executive .thought' it would bo advisable to have a board of control to supervise the conditions of hills of lading.

Mr. A. Leigh Hunt (Wellington Central) said it was not genorally appreciated that under the existing law a bill of lading, which often passed from ono person to another, could bo mad 6 worthless by the shipping company if the company could prove that the good.s were not shipped. It was also a fact that importers could be required to pay freight a second time if the freight had not been paid at the port of shipment by default of the shipping agent. He moved that the Government should he urged to incorporate in legislation principle that a bill of lading, providing that it had not been obtained by fraud or mistake, should ipso facto be deemed to be conclusive evidence of the shipping company's liability eithei to deliver the goods or to pay the value thereof.

The motion was eatried, and otliei aspects of the matter were left for the consideration of the executive.