(1.) THIS judgment will also govern the disposal of Second Appeals No. 501 of 1964 and 502 of 1964, heard alongwith this appeal. These appeals, by the plaintiff, arise out of three suits instituted by him, for recovery of damages in respect of different consignments of safety matches, due to alleged negligence and/or misconduct of the railways or their servants.
(2.) THE facts leading to these appeals, briefly stated, are these. The consignments of safety matches (each consisting of 150 bundles of Tiger head brand safety matches (40s Wimco size), were entrusted by M/s Eastern Match Company, Ltd., Tirumangalam, to the Southern Railway on 23rd April 1959, for carriage to Katni -Murwara, on the Central Railways, under sepatate railway receipts. The goods were consigned to self, and the railway receipts were endoresed in favour of the plaintiff. The consignments were carried on three different railway systems, viz., the Southern Railway, the South Eastern Railway, and the Central Raitway. The plaint allegations is that due to the negligence and misconduct of the railways, the packages of safety matches were (i) mishandled, at the transhipment point, at Arokonam, and (ii) that the wagons, in which they were carried, were loose shunted at the intermediary stations, with the result that the packages were crushed and heavily damaged and thereby the goods became useless and, unmarketable, and had to be destroyed. After the arrival of these consignments at Katni -Murwara on 15th May 1959, the plaintiff was given open delivery of the goods on 16th May 1959, as per Certificates of damage, with the following endorsement: -
(3.) BEFORE dealing with these appeals, it would be convenient to set out a few more facts. There had been a transhipment of these goods at Arokonam from metre -gauge into broad -gauge wagons. The evidence of R. Thangarelu, Transhipment Clerk, Arokonam, (D.W.3), shows that the packages arrived at Arokonam in: good condition. The unloading of the packages from the metre -gauge wagons and their loading into broad -gauge wagons was done by the railways. The packages were handled with care, and there was no loose shunting of the wagons. At Arokonam, the railway authorities pasted caution labels "Not to be loose shunted" on the wagons. The broad -gauge wagons were, however, not fully loaded, this was because the packages were not sufficient to fill up broad -gauge wagons. The railway authorities loaded no other goods in the broad -gauge wagons due to the consignments being of dangerous goods. From this evidence it appears that the consigned goods were in perfectly sound condition on their arrival at the transhipment point at Arokonam. It must, therefore, be accepted that the goods were entrusted by the consigners to the Southern Railways, at Tirumangalam, in good condition. The wagons arrived at Katni -Murwara with their seals and rivets intact, but some of the packages reached the destination with their wrapper torn, and they were 'slightly crushed', but with 'contents full', as per the Certificates of damage. Mulchand (P.W. 2), Chief Goods Clerk Katni -Murwara, describes from the Deficiency and Discrepancy Register that the damaged bundles were found "with their covering torn" and "contents partly crushed". Whatever may be the meaning of the words 'slightly crushed', there is no manner of doubt that the words used were vague and indefinite and they do not convey the extent of actual loss.