Leach, C.J.

1. The appeal arises out of a suit filed by the appellant in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Dindigul to recover a sum of Rs. 77,770 with interest from K.S.N. Periathambi Nadar, who was sued as the principal debtor, and from U.P.A. Pachayappa Nadar, who was sued as his surety. They were defendants 1 and 6 respectively, and as it will be necessary in the course of this judgment to mention them frequently, it will be convenient to refer to them here as defendants 1 and 6. Defendant 6 died during the pendency of the suit and the respondents are his legal representatives. The appellants are a firm of produce merchants with their head office at Bombay. In 1915, they opened a branch at Bodinaickanoor in the Madura District, where they carried on business in coffee and cardamoms under the style of M.N. Bodiwala and Company. In the course of their business at Bodinaickanoor, they became associated with defendant 1, who, they say, pressed them to open a branch at Pattiveeranpatti and to allow him to become a working partner so far as the business at Pattiveeranpatti was concerned. Whether the suggestion came from defendant 1 matters not, but the suggestion was made