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Rh companies in their capacity as common carriers. This Act (I. Will. IV. cap. 68) is popularly known as the "Carriers' Act," and it has a very important bearing upon the liability of a railway company for loss of, or damage to, valuable goods entrusted to its care.

The principle of the Act is contained in the first and second clauses, which provide that no common carrier by land for hire shall be liable for the loss of, or injury to, any articles of the following descriptions, viz.:—

Gold or silver coin. Gold or silver in a manufactored or unmanufactured state.||Title deeds. Precious stones. Jewellery. Watches. Clocks and timepieces. Trinkets. Bills. Bank notes. Orders, notes or securities for payment of money. Stamps, English or Foreign. Maps. Writings. Paintings. Engravings. Pictures. Gold or silver plate or plated articles. Glass. China. Silks, manufactured or unmanufactured, and whether wrought up with other material or not. Furs. Lace.

whether delivered to be carried for hire or to accompany the person of a passenger by any public conveyance, when the value of such article exceeds ten pounds, unless at the time of delivery to the carrier the nature and value of such articles shall have been declared by the sender, and he shall have paid, or agreed to pay, such additional charge, over and above the ordinary rate of carriage, as the carrier shall, by notice, demand