MISSING GOODS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1919, Page 5

MISSING GOODS.

A POINT OF, INTEREST TO SHIPPERS. Invercargill, Dec. 22. A judgment of importance to shippers! was delivered by Mr. Justice Sim in the case Lewis, Ltd., v. the New Zealand Shipping Company, n claim for £53 17s for certain goods alleged to have been stolen from a case carried on the Humnui. The evidence showed that the case had been discovered to be 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 case on its outward appearance as in apparent good order and condition, but the bill of lading bore the words "weight, measurement, contents, and value unknown." Those words excluded any admission by the shipowners as to contents. He held that the invoice was not sujfficient evidence that the case actually contained the goods when it was delivered to the ship in England, and that at most the claim against the shipowners could be 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. The appeal was allowed, and the case.was referred back to the Magistrate to enter a non-suit against Lewis, Ltd.