260 



CARRYING HORSES. 



cattle suffo- 

 cated. 



To be free 

 from all risis 

 of convey - 

 ance — horse 

 injured by 

 unsound 

 truck. 



contract containing the following amongst other condi- 

 tions : — " A pass for a drover to ride with his stock, the 

 company is to be held free from all risks in respect of any 

 damages arising in the loading or unloading, from suffoca- 

 tion or from being trampled upon, bruised, or otherwise 

 injured in transit, from fire, or from any other cause what- 

 soever." A drover received a pass to go with the cattle. 

 The cattle were not put into proper cattle-trucks, but into 

 vans closing with lids ordinarily used for the conveyance of 

 salt, and this was done with the consent, or, at all events, 

 without any objection on the part of the drover. The Hd 

 of one of the vans having become closed in the course of 

 the journey, several of the cattle were suffocated. The 

 drover travelled in the same carriage with the guard, and 

 did not get out during the journey to look at the cattle. 

 The jury having found that the cattle were suffocated 

 during the transit, Alderson, B., directed a verdict to 

 be entered for the defendants, giving leave to the 

 plaintiffs to move to enter a verdict for 135/. if the Court 

 thought that the conditions were unreasonable. The Court 

 refused a rule, and considered that the drover had the 

 means of knowing whether the cattle could travel safely in 

 the carriage provided for them, and that the condition was 

 a reasonable one. 



In the case of M'Manus v. Lancashire and Yorkshire 

 Railway Companij (u), a horse was placed by defendants' 

 servants in a truck which was insufficient and unsound, 

 and the horse put its foot through a hole in the floor, and 

 was injured ; and the question of liability on the contract 

 turned upon the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the 

 following condition : — This ticket is issued, subject to the 

 owner's undertaking " all risks of conveyance, loading and 

 unloading whatsoever, as the company will not be respon- 

 sible for any injury or damage (however caused) occurring 

 to live stock of any description travelling upon the Lanca- 

 shire and Yorkshire Railway, or in their vehicles." This 

 condition was held to be neither just nor reasonable, and 

 Williams, J., in delivering the judgment of the Court, 

 said : "In order to bring the defendants within the pro- 

 tection of the special contract, it is necessary to construe it 

 as excluding responsibility for loss occasioned not only by 

 all risks, of whatever kind, directly incident to the transit, 



{u) M'Manus v. Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail. Co., 4 H. & N. 349- 

 Ex. Ch. 



