JUDGMENT

Fletcher, J. - The plaintiffs, who are the executors of one Gouri Prosad Kundu deceased, seek by this suit to recover against the defendant, the Secretary of State for India in Council, the value of certain Government Promissory Notes of the face value of Rs. 48,000 under the circumstances hereafter stated.

2. The deceased Gouri Prosad Kundu, whose native village was Gopalbari in the District of Faridpur, had for some years prior to his decease carried on a rice business in the Suburbs of Calcutta.

3. The evidence is, and it is not disputed, that he was possessed of Government Promissory Notes of the face value of Rs. 56,000. These Government Notes were from time to time pledged with the firm of Roy of 55 Sova Bazar Street, Calcutta, for the purpose of raising money, when required, for the rice-business.

4. For the last eight years of his life-time the deceased Gouri Prosad Kundu had owing to declining health ceased to take any active part in the rice-business and had retired to his native village of Gopalbari.

5. There, on the 10th of May 1904, Gouri Prosad Kundu executed a registered will.

6. The evidence is, and there can be little doubt that it is true, that the deceased had his Government Promissory Notes with him at Gopalbari at the date he executed his registered will. In such will the deceased specifically refers to the Government Promissory Notes for Rs. 56,000, and it is in evidence that the Government Promissory Notes were taken out of the box, in which they were kept, for the purpose of taking the particulars thereof for insertion in the registered will.

7. Sometime between 8th and 11th May 1904, the deceased left Gopalbari and came to Calcutta for the purpose of undergoing medical treatment. He was accompanied to Calcutta by a niece, named Kankana, who has been called as a witness for the plaintiffs. The deceased, according to the evidence which I accept, brought with him to Calcutta the Government Promissory Notes for Rs. 56,000 and the registered will. A house in Calcutta had bean hired for the deceased and there he remained until his death on the 22nd of August 1904. The deceased's health, when he came to Calcutta, was bad and he gradually grew worse and for sometime before his death his condition was such that he could not transact any business. It is common ground between the parties that on the 15th of June 1904, the deceased through his servants drew at the Public Debt Office the interest due on the Government Promissory Notes. This being so, it follows that any blank endorsements, which were on the notes for Us. 56,000 at the date of the deceased's death, must have been placed thereon after the 15th June 1904, because the Public Debt Office will not pay interest on Government Promissory Notes, when they are endorsed in blank. The amount realised for interest on the Notes for Rs. 56,000 was at or about the time the interest was drawn invested by the deceased in the purchase of Government Promissory Notes of the face value of Rs. 5,000.

8. It is admitted by the plaintiffs that after the date on which the interest was drawn the deceased pledged Government Promissory Notes of the face value of Rs. 2,000 with the said firm of Roy to secure the advance of two sums of Rs. 900 each required for the purpose of the deceased's rice-business. These Notes were redeemed by the deceased on the 16th July 1904. It appears from the evidence that, whenever the deceased used to require money for the purpose of his business, he used to borrow it from the said firm of Roy on the pledge of his Government Promissory Notes. This is shown by the evidence of the cashier of the firm, who produces the books showing many transactions between his firm and the deceased. The only transaction between this firm and the deceased after the 15th June 1904 was the borrowing by the deceased of the two sums of Rs. 900 mentioned above. One of the witnesses for the defendant, who was formerly employed in the deceased's rice-business, stated in his