JUDGMENT

1. This is a plaintiff's appeal arising out of a suit for recovery of damages for non-delivery of goods.

2. On the 28th August, 1918, the plaintiff purchased sertain bales of cloth at Bombay which his commission agents made over to the G. I. P. Railway for transmission to Chunar, which is on the E.I. Railway line, and duly obtained a Railway receipt for it. The goods, however, never reached Chunar. Hence the claim.

3. Both the Railway Companies pleaded the bar of limitation, and both tried to throw the responsibility on the other. The G. I. P. Railway Company asserted that the goods were handed over to the E. I. Railway, at Manikpur junction, while the E. I. Railway Company denied having received the goods at all. At the trial no dispute was raised as to the amount of damages claimed, nor was any issue Struck on the point

4. Both the Courts below have found that the plaintiff has not yet received the goods and has suffered loss; and further that the plea raised by the E.I. Railway Company that they never received the goods, was incorrect, and that in fact the goods did arrive at Allahabad but owing to a mistake made by the Goods Clerk, they were dispatched to Chupra instead of Chunar : they have however, reluctantly dismissed the claim as being time-barred and have directed the parties to bear their own costs.

5. The treatment accorded to the plaintiff is unfortunately not the first which a consignee has had to suffer. When there was a delay in the arrival of the goods, the plaintiff started writing to both the Companies, who delayed action by the plaintiff by informing him that the matter was under enquiry. A perusal of the lengthy correspondence that ensued shows that the plaintiff was all along made to believe that enquiry was being made. A letter on the 25th February 1919 stated that the matter had been referred to the General Traffic Manager. One of the 3rd April 1919 showed that the matter was still under enquiry, That of the 19th April 1919 asked the plaintiff to be at the station to receive the goods.

6. On the 22nd April 1919 the plaintiff was required to send a copy of the bejuk and the letter of the 19th June 1919 told him that the matter was receiving special attention" and that of the 12sh July 1919 that " the subject was reserving best attention."

7.In December 1919 the plaintiff was asked to call personally, in January and February 1920, the E. l. Railway. Company was still asking for particulars of the contents of the bales. On the 31st March 1920 the suit was actually instituted.

8. The recital of these few dates alone is sufficient to show that the plaintiff was never informed what had happened to the goods whether they were lost, injured or mis-delivered nor was hetold when and where they were lost or injured. On the other hand, he was all along assured that inquiry was being made, which naturally made him wait. This assurance was continued even after the expiry of the period of one year which is now pleaded as a bar. When the E. I. Railway Company, by its own conduct, made the plaintiff await the result of the enquiry, it is in at her startling of find the plea of limitation raised in defence on its behalf. However, as the Companies' agents have thought fit to raise the plea, we are bound to consider it. The defendant Com-ponies plead the bar of Arts, 30 and 31 of the Limitation Act.

9. Art. 30 applies to suiia for compensation for losing or injuring goods, and the period is one year from the date when the loss or injury occurs. It is obvious that the Article refers to It sir g or injuring goods by the carrier and not by the plaintiff, that is to say, time begins to run from the time" when the carrier lost or injured the goods, and not from the time when the consignee may be aid to have suffered loss. This was the view expressed by Rattigan, J., in Fakir chand v. Secretary of State for India in Council 19 Ind. Cas. 477 : 170 P. L. R 1913 : 122 P. W. R 1913., following an earlier case of the Punjab Chief Cou