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274 carrier terminates only on the goods being delivered up out of his custody to their owner, but this requires a little elucidation. The law provides that if the terms of the carrier's contract with the sender necessitate his transferring the goods to another company or conveyance in order to complete their transit, he is liable throughout, and the company or person to whom he hands them at the termination of their transit over his own railway is looked upon as his agent; but where, by the terms of the contract, his own duty is complete and the goods have passed out of his hands, the liability is transferred to the third person, until the delivery of the goods is completed.

Practically, this means that if the goods are booked and the carriage paid throughout, the contracting company, in the absence of any special condition to the contrary, is liable for the whole journey; but if the contracting company book the goods and are paid the carriage from A to B only, and there, by the instructions of the sender, hand them over to another company or carrier to convey from B to C, the liability for the latter portion of the journey rests with the carrier from B to C.

(15.) It is the duty of a carrier to deliver the goods within a reasonable time according to the usage of trade, the ordinary course of business, or the terms of the contract.

(16.) We have seen that the responsibility of the carrier continues until he has effected delivery of the goods to the consignee, but much litigation has from time to time arisen as to what constitutes a good delivery. The point is one involving some difficulty, but the following principles have been laid down :—