S.M. COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 230, 27 September 1911, Page 6

S.M. COURT.

(Before Mr C. C. Kel Ue. S.M.) F. R. Aldertou was snerl by Baker and Co., Ltd., for £-1 14/, alleged to be due for goods supplied. Mr A. Southey Baker appeared for the plaintiffs and Mr Gould for defendant. The case was partly heard previously, the defendant repudiating liability on the ground that the goods to be delivered to him at the wharf at Whangarei arrived in a damaged condition. lie further set up the defeuce that he ordered a number of grates (the goods in question) from the iplaintiffs, and only four of them arrived. Therefore he submitted that the contract, was not fulfilled, and he was entitled to reject the goods on that ground alone. A letter was put in from the office of the Northern Steamship Company, in which it was stated that the grates were insufficiently packed, the. goods being of cast-lrou and therefore brittle. Cecil Robert, Tilley, foreman of the ironmongery department of T. and S. -Motrin, stated that the grates came out from 'Brigland in bundles with a 'little straw between them. When sent away on order from a customer, the goods were left unprotected unless the customer agreed to pay a little extra for packing. Another witness gave similar evidence, and added that experience had taught that it was a mistake to pack grates in crates, as they were more likely to be broken iu transit. „ ... Both counsel cited a number of authorities and sections of the Sale of Goods Act in support of their cases. Mr Baker submitted that the order given bv defendant to the plaintiff's traveller was not a contract, until acted upon, and that there was no obligation to supply the whole of the order. Furthermore, he denied that there was any promise to deliver the goods at Whangaiei. They passed from plaintiff's possession on being shipped at Auckland.