WHALE OIL CASE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 138, 8 December 1931, Page 8

WHALE OIL CASE

SUIT FOR £447,000

MEANING OF WORD CARGO

JUDGMENT FOR LEVERS

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(Received Bth December, 2.30 p.m.), ■ LONDON, 7th December.1

After, a ten days' hearing, Mr. Justice Branson.in the King's Bench Division, gave judgment in favour of Unilever; Limited, Lever Brothers and a Norwegian company against. the Ndrwegian Whaling Companies Polaris and Globus, which were suing for £447,600 for alleged breach of contract.

The plaintiffs contended that the defendants agreed to take the whole Antarctic catch of whale oil for the 1930----31 season, even if it exceeded the carrying capacity of the factory ships and was brought to Europe in tankers.

The defendants contended that their liability- extended to the oil which the factory ships produced, stored, carried, and delivered.

Mr. Justice Branson pointed out that factory ships were capable of producing 210,000 barrels, of a value of £875,000, but their carrying power was 118,500 barrels; of a value of £483,750. . Between the dates of the contract and the refusal of the oil the price slumped £25 a ton. The Judge ruled that the word cargo in the contracts meant only what the ships were able to produce and carry. The fact that the whaling companies used tankers to convey the oil to Europe prevented a rectification of the contracts.