'T. Bryan represented the plaintiffs and Mr. P. W. Goldring was for the defendants.
The judgement follows:—
The plaintiffs sue on a contract or contracts for the sale by them to the defendants of 4,682 tons of coal at $11 per ton, with sundry other items relating to the same transactions. I can shortly state the circumstances; the contracts which are admitted were made in Shanghai, the coal to be delivered on board at Tsingtao. Payment was to be 25 per cent. in cash, and the balance on completion of loading. Both plaintiffs and defendants sent a representative to Tsingtao: and there it was soon ascertained that the plaintiffs had themselves bought the coal from two dealers under sub-contract. The coal was for Europe. At Tsingtao difficulties arose as to quality and samples were taken for testing in Hongkong. I do not doubt that herein lies the real root of the trouble. The defendants were so dissatisfied with the quality that they only accepted 2,793 tons: and no payment at Tsingtao was made by the defendants. Hence the plaintiffs could not pay the sub-contractors: and the defendants arranged to pay the sub-contractors in Shanghai.
suspect that no one trusted any one: the sub-contractors wanted their money in Tsingtao: the plaintiffs wanted their money in Tsingtao: the defendants, realizing that claims would probably be made by the consignees, did not want to part with the full purchase price in Tsingtao even though they had a guarantee of 25 per cent. against claims on account of quality and the plaintiffs were in the same position. The defendants advised the sub-contractors to get the mate's receipts for the coal and undertook to pay them if necessary in Shanghai. And that is what ultimately happened; both subcontractors were paid in Shanghai by the defendants.
Now the defendants have endeavoured to prove that the original contracts of July between themselves and the plaintiffs were cancelled at Tsingtao: and that their arrangements with the sub-contractors amounted to new contracts; and claim that they were justified in so doing. I do not agree with that position at all. In the first place, I do not
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.