260 HIRE OF SACKS. 



sent on with the orJinaiy engine power. Cockhurn C.J. held tliat the ques- 

 tion was whether the delay in forwarding these heasls was owing to the 

 negHgence or want of due expedition on the part of the company's 

 servants, or was it the unavoidable result of the state of the line, they 

 doing all that under the circumstances they were bound to do. The 

 jury found for the defendants, and the Court of Exchequer confirmed 

 such finding. And per Pollock C.B. : "The contract entered into was 

 to carry the cattle to Nottingham without delay, and in a reasonable 

 time, under ordinary circumstances. If a snowstorm occurs, which 

 makes it impossible to carry the cattle except by extraordinary efforts, 

 involving additional expense, the company are not bound to use such 

 means and to incur such expense." 



The subject of the lending of sacks ly railway companies for the con- 

 veyance of grain on their lines was considered by the Court of Common 

 Pleas in The Great Northern Railway Company v. Wyles, in which the 

 plaintiff sought to recover £20 lis. bd. for the demurrage of sacks let 

 by them to the defendant. The sacks were hired subject to the fol- 

 lowing, among other regulations : — 



" 2. The charges for the use of sacks will be ^d. per sack per 

 journey when discharged at any of the company's stations on the line ; 

 or at their warehouses, or at warehouses or mills connected by rail 

 with the company's line ; and Id. per sack when sent to foreign 

 stations. 



" 3. Demurrage of ^d. per sack per week will be charged after the 

 expiration of fourteen days, the hire to commence from the time the 

 sacks leave the station to be filled ; the time allowed for filling and 

 returning to the station to be seven days. 



" 10. None of the company's sacks containing grain will be allowed 

 to leave any station (local or foreign) unless a guarantee is first ob- 

 tained by the clerk in charge, from the consignee, that the grain will 

 be immediately discharged, and the sacks returned the same day, and 

 to the same station." 



It was held that the company's claim for demurrage arose at the 

 expiration of fourteen days from the hire of the sacks ; and that the 

 only person with whom there was any contract for demurrage was the 

 consignor, by virtue of the 3rd regulation ; but that, by the operation 

 of the 10th regulation, his liability ceased upon the company's per- 

 mitting the sacks to get into the hands of the consignee, whether with 

 or without a guarantee. 



The Great Northern and other Railways have recently issued fresh 

 regulations with regard to letting out sacks on hire, and the subject is 

 so important that the new regulations are given in full. 



