MISSING GOODS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 76, 23 December 1919, Page 8

MISSING GOODS

A POINT OF INTEREST TO SHIPPERS. Bj T«leeraoh—Prcit Awoclatlon. Invercargill, December 22. A judgment of importance to shippers was delivered by Mr. Justice Sim in tho case Lewis, Ltd., v. the Now Zealand Shipping Company, a claim for £b3 17s. for certain goods alleged to have been stolen from a case carried on the Hurunui. The evidonce showed that tho' caso ihad been discovered to 1)6 damaged when it arrived at Invercargill, and that it was almost impossible for it to have been pillaged on the railway. The Judge said that the bill of lading accepted the caso on its outward appearance as in apparent good order and condition, but flic bill of lading bore the words "weight, measurement, contents, amr value un'known." Those words excluded any admission by the shipowners" as to/ contents. Ho held that tho invoice was not sufficient evidence that tho Case actually ~"contained the goods when it was deliver-ed-to the ship in England, and that at most the claim against the shipowners could bo for damage to the case itself. Sometimes it was agreed to accept an invoice as evidence of the contents, but there was no such' agreement in the present case. Tho appeal was allowed,' and the case was referred back to tho Magistrate' to enter a non-suit against Lewis, Ltdl • ' -