Lord Atkin.:-

This is an appeal from the Supreme Court of Ceylon, (Poyser and Wijeyewardena JJ.), who affirmed a decree of the District Judge of Colombo in favour of the plaintiffs in an action on a mortgage bond. The defence was that the sum mentioned in the bond was an amount due as the result of wagering transactions on the price of rubber. There has been no dispute at any time in the present action that in accordance with the law of Ceylon as decided in the Supreme Court in (1934) 36 New Law Reports 145, Tarrant v. Marikar such a plea if established would be a valid defence. The only question in the case is one of fact, whether the transactions between the parties were wagering transactions, in other words, were bets. Both Courts decided this issue in favour of the plaintiffs in judgments which fully discuss the facts, and it is only necessary shortly to state the circumstances which gave rise to the action. The defendant is a grower of rubber in Ceylon: the plaintiffs are a long-established firm of share and produce-brokers, members of the Colombo Brokers' Association and of the Colombo Rubber Traders' Association. The defendant alleges that in May 1929, it was arranged between him and one Parera, who at the time was a Ceylonese broker employed by the plaintiffs' firm, "that Perera should buy rubber for him on the London market." "There was to be no delivery . . . the arrangement was that I should pay the differences when the market was against me and that I should be paid the differences when the market was in my favour." Mr. Parsons, the senior partner of the firm, denied that he bad ever entered into any such bargain. Perera, who at the hearing of the case had left the plaintiff's employment, was not called. The evidence showed that on 10th May 1929 the defendant wrote to the plaintiffs the following letter :

E.L. Ebrahim Lebbe Marikar.

Phone No. 1438

9, Gas Works Street,

Colombo, 15th May, 1929.

Messrs Bartleet and Co.,

Colombo.

Dear Sir,

As arranged please buy 700 (seven hundred) tons Rubber on London June December 1929 at the rate of 100 (one hundred) tons each month at the current market rate and also I allow you to have the selling as well.

Yours faithfully,

E.L. Ebrahim Lebbe Marikar.

(Signed)

The plaintiffs carried out these instructions by cabling to their London agents, George White, Yuille and Co., Ltd., "Please buy for our account delivery in equal monthly lots 700 tons June-December delivery this year." Yuille and Co., carried oat these instructions, and as the rubber was bought sent contracts to the plaintiffs of which the following is a sample :

Geo. White, Yuille and Co., Ltd.,

3. Mincing Lane, E.C.3.

2079

Messrs. Bartleet and Co.

Bought Delivery Contract.

London and / or Liverpool.

London, May 15th, 1929.

We have this day bought by your order and for your account upon the terms of this Contract, including the Rules endorsed hereon and the Regulations and Bye-Laws of The Rubber Trade Association of London, of our Principals, whose solvency we guarantee,

Seventy-five (75) tons Plantation Rubber in cases, at Elevenpence seven-eighths (11 7/8d.) per lb.

Standard Quality Hevea Brasiliensis, Ribbed Smoked Sheets. To be ready for delivery in Warehouse in London and/or Liverpool, any time or times, at Seller's option, during the month of June 1929.

(File)

Any dispute arising out of this contract shall be settled by Arbitration in London, according to the Regulations and Bye-Laws of the Rubber Trade Association of London. This Contract shall be construed according to the laws of England, whatever be the residence or nationality of the parties, and its performance shall, in every part and incident be considered due in England for the purpose of jurisdiction, and the Courts of England or Arbitrators in England, as the case may be, shall have conclusive jurisdiction over all disputes which may arise under this Contract, and their decisions shall be enforceable as final judgments in any British Colony or Dependency or Foreign Country. Broke