Carrie r—Common Carrie r—Liability for Goods carrie d-—Alle ge d Carriage othe rwise than as Common Carrier—Indian Carriers Act (III, of 1865), ss. 2, 6, 9.

A person who is within the definition of a " common carrier" in s. 2 of the Indian Carriers Act, 1365, is liable in damages as a common carrier in respect of goods delivered to him for carriage, unless either

(a) his liability has been limited by a special written contract as provided by s. 6 of the Act, which contract may involve a different category of liability, or (6) in carrying the particular goods he was departing from his usual business and engaging in one differing from that of a common carrier.

The appellants, who were common carriers between ports on a river, agreed with a railway company to assign vessels for the purpose of carrying from port A to port B, without calling at intermediate ports, goods consigned to the railway company for carriage, but without any special written contract under s. 6. There was no evidence that if persons other than the railway company had tendered to the appellants goods for carriage from A to B those goods would not also have been carried in the vessels—

Held, that the appellants were