Judgment

SHAH, J. :

The appellant which is a public limited company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1913, his its registered office at Calcutta, and branches in Bombay, Madras, New Delhi and Kanpur. The appellant carried on business in diverse lines, which may broadly be classified as (1) buying and selling on its own account, (2) introducing customers to principals (3) acting as managing agents, (4) acting as shipping agents, (5) acting as purchasing agents, (6) acting as sole importers and distributors on behalf of United Kingdom principals having no organisation in India and (7) acting as secretaries.

2. Since January 21, 1886, M/s. Gillanders Arbuthnot and Co., predecessors-in-interest of the appellant were the sole agents and distributors in India of explosives manufactured by the Imperial Chemical Industries (Export) Ltd. Glasgow, Scotland hereinafter called the principal company . There was no written 454 agreement between the principal company and M/s. Gillanders Arbuthnot and Co., incorporating the terms of the agency agreement. It is however common ground that the agency agreement was terminable at the option of the principal company. The appellant was incorpora