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PART II - HAGUE RULES 463Article 4 (5) - Limits of liabilitythe cargo owners, if we read No. 4: “Neither the carrier nor the ship shall be responsiblein any event for loss or damage to or in connection with goods of a [194] greatervalue than £100 unless the nature and value of such goods have been declared by theshipper before the goods are shipped and have been inserted in the bill of lading”?Mr. McConechy: Yes, we would accept that.Sir Norman Hill: The object of it is this. I want to be quite clear to Mr. Dor, becausehe has blamed me a little bit in some of the things he said. I have not tried to approachthe subject in the spirit that I think he thinks. (Hear, hear). Now, may I say Ithink dictating rules is bad business, but it is clearly the wish of the Committee thatthe rules should be dictated. I have accepted that and I am trying loyally to make thebest of the rules, and make them the best working rules. You see the object; if thegoods are in fact of a greater value than £100 per package we must be told, so that wecan take the proper steps to make them as safe as we can. Is that a fair suggestion?Mr. Dor: May I ask: will the effect of the clause be that if a case of silk is shippedof the value of £150, and you are not told anything, you will be responsible for £100?Sir Norman Hill: No.Mr. Dor: You will not be?Sir Norman Hill: No.Mr. Dor: Then I am afraid that will not do.The Chairman: I am not sure. Let me read the words as I have them: “Neither thecarrier not the ship shall be responsible in any event for loss or damage to or in connectionwith goods of a greater value than £100 per package unless the nature and valueof such goods have been declared by the shipper before the goods are shipped andhave been inserted in the bill of lading”. Sir Norman, are those the words?Sir Norman Hill: Yes; but may I say, before I say “Yes” to your question, I mean,and I purposely mean, that if the package is worth £150 I must be told before shipment?If I am not told, I am not going to be responsible for that package, because itgoes right against my chances. Take the instance which Mr. Harris has given you - anextreme instance - a minute package worth £50, a minute package worth £300 or£1,000; that is the package which tempts the pilferers, and we have to make arrangementsaccordingly. If it is silk, that tempts the pilferers more than if is cotton. We [195]ought to make arrangements accordingly. There is not, surely, any hardship on theshipper to tell us quite frankly what is the value. We know that the average value of thepackages is far below the £100. Nearly the whole of the trade will go through withoutany trouble, but you come up the point in which there are packages of value, and thosepackages we ought to be told of, so that we can see to the stowing, to the safe custodyduring the loading and discharging.Mr. Rudolf: Sir Norman, would this meet your view: suppose that in any casewhere the package exceeded £100 it was notified to you that that package did exceed£100, without actually saying what the value was?Sir Norman Hill: Mr. Rudolf, yes; if you will take the penalty, the penalty is on you.The Chairman: It is a penalty put on the shipper.Mr. Dor: Might I say a word on this new proposal?The Chairman: Mr. Dor, I am not clear in my own mind whether the draft statutein France at present under consideration does not have the effect of Sir Norman Hill’samendment.Mr. Dor: No, Sir. I have the Bill here if you like to read it.The Chairman: I will accept your statement.Mr. Dor: You may take my word, because I have drafted it myself. First of all, Ihope the meeting will allow me to say that, if in my previous statement I have said anythingthat my friends amongst the shipowners have thought harsh and strong, it ismerely that I was carried away by the discussion, and that I did not mean anything un-