JUDGMENT

Gill:

This is an action by the plaintiff as administrator for damages arising out of the death by drowning of one Hoon Thye Peng alias Hon Pai Peng alias Chon Thye Peng in consequence of the escape of water in a flood condition from the defendants' mine. Hoon Thye Peng deceased was at all material times the owner and occupier of a farm and farmhouse at the third mile, Cheras Road, Kuala Lumpur adjacent to the defendants' mining lands.

The defendants carried on dredge mining on their lands on which at all material times they maintained ponds or reservoirs of water which were separated from each other by bunds known as intermediate bunds with one bund all round the general area of the mine known as the perimeter bund. There were spillways over the bunds to allow the flow of water from one area into another and for the final run-off into a river. All these are shown in the plans which have been put in evidence.

The ponds material for the purpose of this case have been described as P1 and P2 and the bund separating them as bund A or bund P1/P2. The material spillways were spillways 13, 17 and 6. Spillway 13 was on bund A and Spillway 17 on the outer bund of P2. Spillway 6 wa