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restrained by the express provisions on that head.— The sugar coopers are excluded from exercising two

duce, the master or commander of such ship or vessel shall, on or before her arrival at Gravesend, well and securely lock down and fasten, with strong and sufficient locks and other fastenings, to be provided at the expence of the owner or owners of such ship or vessel, all the hatches leading to or connected with the cargo of such ship or vessel; and from the time of her arrival at Gravesend the said master or commander shall remain constantly on board such ship or vessel, and keep her hatches so locked down and fastened until the same ship or vessel be safely moored in one of the said docks, and until such master or commander shall have delivered the keys of such locks or fastenings to such officer or servant of the said company as shal! be duly authorized to receive the same; and in case any master or commander of any such ship or vessel shall refuse or neglect to provide such locks and other fastenings, or to lock and fasten down the hatches of such ship or vessel as aforesaid, or to keep the same so locked and fastened down, or shall leave such ship or vessel after her arrival at Gravesend, and before she shall be safely moored, and the said keys so delivered as last aforesaid, or shall refuse or neglect to deliver the said keys to such officer or servant as before mentioned, within two hours next after such mooring, every such master, commander, or other person so offending, shall, for every such offence (upon being convicted thereof) forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding 501. nor less than 201. § 13. And be it further enacted, that ali goods, wares, and merchandize, imported in ships from the West Indies, which shall be landed on the said quays, shall be surveyed and examined by some competent person or persons to be appointed by the said directors for that purpose, and which person or persons shall inquire into and" ascertain the causes and extent of any injury or damage which shall have happened to the same, either by sea damage, improper stowage, or otherwise, and shall compute and value such injury or damage, and deliver his or their report in writing thereon to the directors of the said company as soon as may be; and the

1805.

BENTLEY and Another

versus

SMITH

1805.

BENTLEY and Another

versys SMITH.

branches of their trade, but not the third, which is the cooperage for exportation. The nature of their

same, or some other person or persons to be appointed in manner last aforesaid, shall collect and take or cause to be collected and taken, samples for sale of all goods, wares, and merchandize which shall be landed on the said quays before the same shall be removed therefrom (the quantity of which samples, in the case of sugar, shall never exceed one pound and a half avoirdupois weight from each cask); and in consideration of the great additional expence and trouble which will be occasioned by such survey and examination, and ascertaining the causes and extent of any injury or damage, and the amount or value thereof, and also by taking such samples of the said goods, wares, and merchandize, and delivering the whole of the said sample to the order of the importers thereof, which he and they is and are hereby required to do, there shall be payable and paid to the said West India Dock Company, or their collectors, receivers, or agents, for their use, for all such goods, wares, and merchan dize, imported in ships from the West Indies as shall be landed, unshipped, or discharged from on board of any ship or vessel within any of the said docks, and shall be so surveyed and examined, and samples taken thereof as aforesaid (over and above the rates and duties by the said recited act granted), the additional rates or duties next herein-after mentioned; (that is to say), for all such goods, wares, and merchandize (except sugar), as by the said recited act are or shall be chargeable with the payment of any rate or duty to the said company, according to the weight thereof, there shall be payable and paid the additional rate or duty of two pence per hundred weight, and for sugar the additional rate or duty of one penny per hundred weight. And for all such goods, wares, and merchandize, as by the same act are or shall be chargeable with the payment of any rate or duty to the said company, according to the measure thereof, there shall be payable and paid the additional rate or duty of one shilling per cask. Which additional rates or duties shall be paid by the proprietor or proprietors, consignee or consignees of such goods, wares, and merchandize respec

business is this; when the sugars first arrive, it is necessary to examine the casks and drive nails, to make them tight, in order to be carried on shore; after they are warehoused in the wharfs, it is also necessary to examine and tighten them again, if they are to be car

tively, and shall be levied and collected in such manner as in and by the said recited act and this act is directed with respect to the rates and duties made payable to the said company; and the said additional rates and duties are hereby vested in the said West India Dock company, and their successors, executors, administrators and assigns, holding for the time being, shares of the capital stock of the said company as their own proper monies, but for the purposes in the said recited act mentioned, concerning the rates and duties thereby granted. § 21.

And whereas by the said recited act of the thirty-ninth year aforesaid, provision is made for making compensation to the owners and occupiers of legal quays, sufferance wharfs, warehouses, and other tenements and hereditaments, and to tackle house porters, ticket porters, and free carmen of the city of London, or other person or persons interested in or employed upon the business thereof respectively and whereas doubts have arisen how far sugar coopers will be entitled to claim compensation for any injury, loss, or damage they may suf fer or sustain in their employment of sugar coopers, by reason of the same works: and whereas further injury, loss, or damage may accrue to the said sugar coopers, by means of certain provisions of this present act; be it therefore further enacted, that the provision made in and by the said recited act, for making compensation to the several descriptions of persons before mentioned, in respect of the injury, loss, or damage they may suffer or sustain by the works therein mentioned, shall, and the same is hereby declared and enacted to extend to sugar coopers, who shall or may prove that they have suffered or sustained any injury, loss, or damage in their fair and legal employment as sugar coopers, by means of the

[blocks in formation]

1805.

BENTLEY and Another

versus

SMITH,

1805.

versus

SMITH.

ried from the wharfs to a private warehouse. And if the sugars are to be re-shipped for exportation, still BENTLEY and Another greater strength is required to be given to the casks for the purpose of sea carriage. The two first branches. of the business are exercised upon the casks while in the hands of the original owners chiefly, but the third may be required when the goods are in the hands of a second owner. For the two first, as they are taken away, there is a compensation given for them by the assessment of the commissioners and a jury. In the original act there was even no power given to the company to take samples, and they were obliged to obtain a new act for the purpose. The 39 Geo. III. c. 69, s. 137, specifies the compensation to be received by the company, viz. 6s. 8d. per ton for entering. This is to be a compensation also for the cooperage hoops and nails; but that is only what may be necessary immediately after the importation voyage, and the charge falls on the owner of the ship. This charge of 6s. 8d. for every ton, includes the charges and expences of wharfage and landing, and the cooperage and hoops and nails which such cargo may require in the course of such unlading thereof. But this clearly does not apply to the cooperage for exportation, for it is payable by the consignee; and the company does not even pretend that the cooperage for exportation is included in these charges, because they offer to do it, not for the sum there specified, but for a reasonable compensation. The 42 Geo. III. c. 113, s. 2, which provides for tak

sume works, or the provisions of this present act. 42 Geo. III. Loc. & Per. c. 113, § 34.

The counsel also referred to the stat. 43 Geo. III. cap. 132, entitled 'An act for permitting certain goods imported into Great Britain, to be secured in warehouse without payment of duty.'

ing samples, plainly does not apply to this exportation business, which seems to have been forgotten. The company has by this clause the whole power of taking samples, and even if sold, and the goods remain in their warehouses, and the vendee wishes to take a second sample for his own use, it seems he cannot do 'it. In the whole of the statutes it will be seen that the export business has been omitted, and if the parties do not retain the right of exercising it on these quays they are greatly injured, because the compensation which they received was only for the other two branches. It is probable that this construction may defeat some of the provisions of the acts, as to the sole and absolute controul and custody which the company is to have of the goods, while in their warehouses; but that is not a sufficient ground to deprive the plaintiffs of their rights, if the words of the act do not expressly provide for that purpose.

For the defendant it was at first contended, that whatever the rights of the plaintiff's might be, they could not bring this action, but that point was not relied upon in the second argument.

The plaintiffs might have been compensated for what they lost by the 39 Geo. III. c. 69, s. 121, which gives a compensation to all persons for such loss as they may sustain. And the 42 Geo. III. c. 113, s. 34, ascertains clearly, that the coopers are to be indemnified for any loss they may sustain in their employment as sugar coopers; and,the compensation is as general and as full as the exclusion. It does not necessarily follow, that because the company is to be paid for taking samples, the owners may not have a right of taking other samples upon paying for both, and therefore the plaintiff's may not have lost their business by means of these acts of parliament. Neither had the coopers a right to come upon the legal quays as far as

F2

1805.

BENTLEY

and Another

versus

SMITH.

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