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STARTING LIFE AS A HAULAGE CONTRACTOR.

3rd April 1919, Page 16
3rd April 1919
Page 16
Page 17
Page 16, 3rd April 1919 — STARTING LIFE AS A HAULAGE CONTRACTOR.
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The Common Carrier and His Responsibilities.

THERE are vaiious ways in which the interested reader of this series of articles may decide to carry on business with his commercial motor. kl) He may elect to offer his services as a carrier of goods to all such persons who may wish to employ MM.

(2) He may choose to carry passengers in one or other of the several methods which are current in this branch of the public service carrying industry, that is to say, either for hire as pre-arranged, and starting from private premises ; or as a regular hackney coach proprietor plying for hire under due licence. With his passengers, he may or may not elect to carry their personal luggage. (3) He may hire out his vehicle complete with driver and all essentials to anyone who may require it, charging according to the mileage run or the time during which it is engaged upon his client's business. . There are, of course, several huh-divisions to each of these main classes, but this rough classification will serve our present needs. Those who operate as suggested in the first example given above are what is recognized in law as common carriers. They have certain privileges, and are under obligation to operate in accordance with certain limiting conditions. Those who work as laid down in the second of the three classes are also common carriers if they admit luggage with their passengers. If passengers only be carried, and no luggage, then the contractor is not necessarily a common carrier within the legally accepted meaning of the term. Contractors operating in the third class are not common carriers. Nor is a person who does not convey goods for all and sundry. He is generally recognized as being a "private carrier for hire," and is merely bound to exercise in regard to his business such dihgence and care as he would naturally do if the goods were his own property.

A full and complete statement of the law as it applies to the common carrier would occupy several issues of The Commercial Motor. Such a statement. however, is unnecessary, as the majority of the details are such as would only apply once or twice in a lifetime in the ordinary, course of business. We may briefly, however, and with considerable advantage, outline the principal legal conditions with which the common carrier must conform and, undoubtedly, the subject is one which is of wide interest, since, even if we be not all common carriers, we all of us, nevertheless, from time to time, have business with such, as will be realized when it is pointed out that railway companies, as regards the goods which they profess to carry, are common carriers. It is worthy of note, too, in regard to passenger-carrying work that proprietors of stage coaches are responsible for the luggage of their passengers on the ordinary footing of common carriers.

One condition which is not generally realized with which the common carrier must comply is that, unless his conveyance be already full, or, unless the goods are of an unusual nature such as he is not in the habit of carrying, and does not profess to carry, he must accept and carry any goods which are offered. But, as he is not compelled to store these goods, the obligation does not arise until he is about to set out on his accustomed journey. On the other hand, he is entitled to be paid his just charges before he undertakes the responsibility of accepting the goods. It behoves a carrier to have good and careful assistants or clerks, if his business is large enough to demand this assistance, as, if inquiry be made of his clerks as to the scale of charges, and the goods be sent for carriage at the rate then stated, the carrier is bound to accept and convey them for the price asked, even if it be incorrect. In the absence of any special contract to the contrary, a carrier is responsible for the goods which are entrusted to his charge from the time when he receives them until they reach the final destination to. which they are addressed or consigned. He is, in fact, an insurer. If, however, a, carrier while accepting goods of or from all and sundry in such a manner as to constitute himself a common carrier, wishes to limit his liability and evade some of the legal responsibilities of such, he may do so by delivering a ticket or similar notice as receipt for the goods, on which ticket he should specify the terms on which he agrees to carry those goods. It should he noted, however, that it is open to a customer to decline the terms as set down on the ticket, while still requiring the carrier to accept the goods for transport. If the goods are such as the carrier may ordinarily be called upon to convey, and if the customer tenders reasonable payment for the services which he demands, then the carrier is bound to accept.

A common carrier, as has been pointed out, may not be called upon to store, but, if he actually has a warehouse and is in. the habit of receiving goods and storing them for short periods before dispatching them, then his responsibility a-ctually begins with the receipt of the goods. A curious condition is that a licence to deal in game cannot be held by a COMMOR carrier.

The obligations of a common carrier are limited only by four eircumslances:—If the goods suffer loss or injury from (1) the -act of God, (2) the King's enemies, (3) contributory negligence on the part of the bailor, (4) inherent vice in or natural deterioration of the thing carried. But he is liable for loss by theft, even if he can prove that, in no circumstances, could he have prevented robbery. The contractor should note that it is incumbent upon him not only to take care of the goods, but to exercise forethought and knowledge as to the extent of the care that is necessary in individual and particular instances, for example, if the goods are such as require airing or ventilation during the journey, any damage which they may suffer from the neglect of this precaution the carrier will be responsible for.

A carrier is not responsible for any damage which may occur to goods owing to their being defectively packed, provided the defect is such that the carrier could riot possibly be aware of it. If, however, when the goods are tendered, the carrier observes the de

fects of the packing, and still accepts the goods for transmission, he then becomes responsible. If goods are handed to the carrier, including fragile objects, and no tice is affixed proclaiming the character of the goocrs, the Carrier is not liable, provided be takes ordinary care.

It is illegal, according to the Statute Book, for a carrier with any horse or horses to travel upon the Lord's day. As to how far this law affects the carrier by motor is not clear.

In the Carriers' Act of 1830, a number of items of high intrinsic worth are listed, for loss of or injury done to which the carrier is not liable if the value of the articles exceeds 210, unless at the time of delivering the parcel or package containing them to the carrier the value and nature are declared, and an increased charge be paid, and it is of interest to note that the carrier is entitled to know what are the contents of any package which may be tendered, if he is to be responsible for loss or damage.

Having certain special obligations in law, it is only to be expected that the common carrier should have, as an offset, certain special rights and privileges. For example, he is entitled to make reasonable charges for the carriage and, having conveyed the goods to the destinatron, he may decline to deliver them until his charges are Met. On. the other hand, his charge must be a reasonable one, although he is not bound to charge all customers alike for similar services.

If the carriage be not prepaid; then the carrier" cannot sue for the money until he has delivered the

goods. If certain unusual eirouinistances, either of weather or otherwise, call for unusual precautions on.. the part of the carrier in order to insure that the goods be undamaged, then he is entitled to recover any such expenses from a consignor.

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