MANDILAS AND KERABERIS LTD
V.
CHIEF YESUFU D. OTOKITI
Bairamian, F.J(reading the leading judgment) The plaintiffs have appealed, and the defendant has cross-appealed, from the judgment in the Benin Suit No. 27 of 1957 given on 8th November, 1960.
The parties entered into a contract on the 5th November, 1953, in relation to the defendant's concessions in the Forest Reserve, with a view to his giving the plaintiffs all the logs he extracted. There is in evidence an agreement in writing-exhibit A, put in by consent at the trial-which recites that the company advanced a loan of £1,800 in timber vehicles, to enable the defendant to exploit his timber concessions, fell timber and supply on sale all the timber to the company; the next recital mentions the concessions, which cover about 150 square miles, and the terms of agreement follow in regard to the timber to be supplied to the plaintiffs at their beach and the prices to be paid; and the defendant was to repay the loan of £1,800 in logs within six months. The final Clause is that the agreeme…