K.Ahmad, J.

1. This is an appeal by the plaintiffs who are in this case a firm, Mahadeo Lal Prabhu Deyal. The suit was for recovery of damages for non-delivery of 31 bales of piece-goods out of 60 bales which had been consigned by one Messrs. Bombay Agents Limited to the G. I. P. Railway at Wadibunder station on the 1st of December, 1947, for carriage to Baidyanathdham Railway station on the E. I. Railway under Railway Receipt No. 7213/57 and Invoice No. 30 of the same date. It is not denied that at Wadibunder Railway station the consignment was loaded in Wagon No. 9643 which reached Moghulsarai on the 9th of December, 1947 at 11-55 a.m. by 192 Down Goods Train.

But as from Moghulsarai it was to be carried by another train, which had not yet been constituted, the wagon had to be detained there for about three days until the 12th of December 1947, when again at 0-40 p.m. it started for its forward journey by 214 Down Goods Train and eventually reached Baidyanathdham on the 21st of December 1947. And there on the same day when the railway receipt was presented for delivery, what the plaintiff, who was the consignee thereof, got from the Railway was only 29 bales out of 60 bal