Mills v Parkes [1914] HCA 34

18 C.L.R.] OF AUSTRALIA. 189

{HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.]

MILLS (Cottector or Customs ror NEw }

PLAINTIFF ; SourH WatLEs)

AND

PARKES AND ANOTHER . : 4 . DEFENDANTS.

LLECTOR OF CusToMS FOR NEW

MILLS (Co } PLAINTIFF ;

Sourn WatEs)

AND

PARKES . c : ' ; ? . DEFENDANT. Customs—Customs security—Loss of goods wpon wharf—Unavoidable accident— H.C. or A.

Burden of proof—Customs Act 1901 (No. 6 of 1901), secs. 42, 44, 48, 1914.

The defendants, one of whom, P., was the agent of acertain ship, entered > into a Customs security by which they acknowledged themselves bound to the May 21 :

Customs in the sum of £500 subject to certain conditions, one being that if goods discharged from any ship of which P. was agent should be safely and securely kept on a sufferance wharf or in a shed thereon and there preserved Gavan Duffy 34. in good state and condition free from all loss or damage, save such as might arise from unavoidable accident, and another that if the duty due or to accrue due on such goods should be paid or the goods be exported, the security should be discharged, Certain goods were landed on a sufferance wharf from a ship of which P, was agent, and then disappeared, there being no evidence

to show how.

Hed, that the onus lay upon the defendants of proving that the loss of the goods arose through unavoidable accident, and that in the absence of such proof, the duty not having been paid, the defendants were liable in an action upon the security.

VOL. XVIII. 14

HIGH COURT (1914,

H.C. or A. SpecIAL CAsE,

1914, Sw

Mitts cA Parkes.

Two actions were brought in the High Court by Stephen Mills, the Collector of Customs for New South Wales—one (1913, No, 7) against George Arthur Parkes and the Queensland Insurance Co, Ltd. to recover the sum of £500 being the stated liability of the defendants jointly and severally as subscribers to a Customs security dated 12th August 1910, given by the defendants pur- suant to the Customs Act 1901, and the other (1913, No, 8) against George Arthur Parkes to recover the sum of £68 12s, alleged to be due for duties of Customs in respect of certain tobacco imported into the Commonwealth at Sydney in the ss. Birkenfels, of which goods the defendant was alleged to be the owner within the meaning of the Customs Act 1901-1910.